An automatic remotely web-based control equipment for investigating gas flux at water – air interfaces

Abstract:

Aquatic ecosystems are major sources of greenhouse gases (GHG). Robust measurements of natural GHG emissions are vital for evaluating regional to global carbon budgets and for assessing climate feedbacks on natural emissions to improve climate models. Diffusive and ebullitive (bubble) transport are two major pathways of gas release from surface waters. Capturing the high temporal variability of these fluxes has been labor intensive using manual based methods, or expensive using available high resolution equipment (e.g. eddy correlation methods). Here, we present an inexpensive device that includes an easily mobile diffusive flux chamber and a bubble counter (inverted funnel) all in one. It is equipped with wireless data readout and web-based remote monitoring and control functions. The device can be programmed to measure in situ mixing ratios of gas in the chamber, and accumulation of ebullitive gas in the funnel. The device can also collect gas samples into sample bottles for subsequent analyses (e.g concentration, stable isotopes) in the laboratory.