Summer greenhouse gas fluxes in different types of hemiboreal lakes.

Lakes are considered important regulators of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG). We estimated late summer open water GHG fluxes in nine hemiboreal lakes in Estonia classified under different lake types according to the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). We also used the WFD typology to provide an improved estimate of the total GHG emission from all Estonian lakes with a gross surface area of 2204 km2 representing 45,227 km2 of hemiboreal landscapes (the territory of Estonia). The results demonstrate largely variable CO2 fluxes among the lake types with most active emissions from Alkalitrophic (Alk), Stratified Alkalitrophic (StratAlk), Dark Soft and with predominant binding in Coastal, Very Large, and Light Soft lakes. The CO2 fluxes correlated strongly with dissolved CO2 saturation (DCO2) values at the surface. Highest CH4 emissions were measured from the Coastal lake type, followed by Light Soft, StratAlk, and Alk types; Coastal, Light Soft, and StratAlk were emitting CH4 partly as bubbles. The only emitter of N2O was the Alk type. We measured weak binding of N2O in Dark Soft and Coastal lakes, while in all other studied lake types, the N2O fluxes were too small to be quantified. Diversely from the common viewpoint of lakes as net sources of both CO2 and CH4, it turns out from our results that at least in late summer, Estonian lakes are net sinks of both CO2 alone and the sum of CO2 and CH4. This is mainly caused by the predominant CO2 sink function of Lake Peipsi forming ¾ of the total lake area and showing negative net emissions even after considering the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of other GHGs. Still, by converting CH4 data into CO2 equivalents, the combined emission of all Estonian lakes (8 T C day-1) is turned strongly positive: 2720 T CO2 equivalents per day.

Dissolved organic carbon and its potential predictors in eutrophic lakes.

Understanding of the true role of lakes in the global carbon cycle requires reliable estimates of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and there is a strong need to develop remote sensing methods for mapping lake carbon content at larger regional and global scales. Part of DOC is optically inactive. Therefore, lake DOC content cannot be mapped directly. The objectives of the current study were to estimate the relationships of DOC and other water and environmental variables in order to find the best proxy for remote sensing mapping of lake DOC. The Boosted Regression Trees approach was used to clarify in which relative proportions different water and environmental variables determine DOC. In a studied large and shallow eutrophic lake the concentrations of DOC and coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) were rather high while the seasonal and interannual variability of DOC concentrations was small. The relationships between DOC and other water and environmental variables varied seasonally and interannually and it was challenging to find proxies for describing seasonal cycle of DOC. Chlorophyll a (Chl a), total suspended matter and Secchi depth were correlated with DOC and therefore are possible proxies for remote sensing of seasonal changes of DOC in ice free period, while for long term interannual changes transparency-related variables are relevant as DOC proxies. CDOM did not appear to be a good predictor of the seasonality of DOC concentration in Lake Võrtsjärv since the CDOM-DOC coupling varied seasonally. However, combining the data from Võrtsjärv with the published data from six other eutrophic lakes in the world showed that CDOM was the most powerful predictor of DOC and can be used in remote sensing of DOC concentrations in eutrophic lakes.

Role of a productive lake in carbon sequestration within a calcareous catchment.

For a long time, lakes were considered unimportant in the global carbon (C) cycle because of their small total area compared to the ocean. Over the last two decades, a number of studies have highlighted the important role of lakes in both sequestering atmospheric C and modifying the C flux from the catchment by degassing CO2 and methane and burying calcite and organic matter in the sediment. Based on a full C mass balance, high frequency measurements of lake metabolism and stable isotope analysis of a large shallow eutrophic lake in Estonia, we assess the role alkaline lakes play in augmenting the strength of terrestrial carbonate weathering as a temporary CO2 sink. We show that a large part of organic C buried in the sediments in this type of lakes originates from the catchment although a direct uptake from the atmosphere during periods of intensive phytoplankton growth in eutrophic conditions contributes to the carbon sink.