CO2 oversaturation and degassing using chambers and a new gas transfer velocity model from the Three Gorges Reservoir surface.

Reservoirs are considered as important carbon source of the atmosphere, whilst, regional and global reservoir CO2 quantification is hampered by data limitation and bias in spatial and temporal sampling. By deploying chamber measurements and employing the newly developed model of gas transfer velocity, CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) and evasion in the main stem of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) were investigated. The pCO2 ranged from 429 to 8668 μatm with an average of 2511.6 ± 1721.3 μatm, 6.1-fold higher than the ambient air pCO2 (mean: 410 μatm). All the samples were net CO2 sources via water-air interface, displaying pronounced spatial and monthly variability. The CO2 areal flux averaged 212.5 ± 120.1 mmol/m2/d in June, 123.3 ± 78.5 mmol/m2/d in July in the lotic TGR main stream, much higher than its lentic system, i.e., 79.6 ± 41.3 mmol/m2/d in November, and 76.3 ± 88.1 mmol/m2/d in March. Much lower k levels in the lentic reservoir surface resulted in lower CO2 evasion rates. Furthermore, dam impoundment considerably altered the riverine carbon cycle, as reflected by the changing magnitude of CO2 efflux and environmental controls of dissolved CO2. Precipitation and concurrent soil CO2 influx exhibited a central role in controlling riverine pCO2, and respiration of allochthonous organic carbon was a secondary factor in the TGR lotic system, whilst, both in-stream metabolism and terrestrial inputs played crucial roles in controlling aqueous CO2 in the TGR lentic system. In comparison, we provided key findings of k model and more reliable CO2 quantification with a consideration of water level shifts and a complete coverage of spatial sampling. Our higher CO2 emission (1.47 (1.16-2.13) Tg CO2/y) than previous studies called more field measurements to assess the resulting changes in CO2 flux owing to dam operation and changing environment, and their implications for regional carbon budgets should be warranted.