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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L12809, doi:10.1029/2007GL029479, 2007

Methane release below a tropical hydroelectric dam

Alexandre Kemenes

Department of Ecology and Aquatic Sciences, National Institute for Amazon Research, Manaus, Brazil


Bruce Rider Forsberg

Department of Ecology and Aquatic Sciences, National Institute for Amazon Research, Manaus, Brazil


John Michael Melack

Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA


Abstract

Tropical reservoirs upstream from hydroelectric dams are known to release significant amounts of methane to the atmosphere. Here we demonstrate that methane emissions downstream from hydroelectric dams can also be large. Emissions of CH4 downstream of Balbina reservoir in the central Amazon basin (Brazil) were calculated from regular measurements of degassing in the outflow of the turbines and downstream diffusive losses. Annual emissions from the reservoir surface and downstream from the dam were 34 and 39 Gg C, respectively. The downstream emission alone represented the equivalent of 3% of all methane released from central Amazon floodplain.

Received 25 January 2007; accepted 17 April 2007; published 23 June 2007.

Keywords: reservoir; methane; emission.

Index Terms: 0478 Biogeosciences: Pollution: urban, regional and global (0345, 4251); 0426 Biogeosciences: Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0315); 0490 Biogeosciences: Trace gases; 1615 Global Change: Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0414, 0793, 4805, 4912); 1631 Global Change: Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1843, 3322).

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Citation: Kemenes, A., B. R. Forsberg, and J. M. Melack (2007), Methane release below a tropical hydroelectric dam, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L12809, doi:10.1029/2007GL029479.