Estimation of greenhouse gas emissions of a tropical reservoir in Colombia

Tropical reservoirs are generally flooded in soils with a high content of organic matter. This, combined with high temperatures, favors the generation of carbon dioxide and methane by biological degradation, contributing to the impact on climate change. A tropical reservoir in Colombia was monitored for 7 years in the pre-fill, fill and post-fill stages, for the last of these during the day and night. Emissions from diffusive fluxes at the surface of the water were measured using a floating static chamber, while inverted funnel methodology was used to measure the fluxes by bubbling. The samples collected in the field were analyzed in the laboratory using a gas chromatograph with a mass detector. The results showed average emissions of 70892.51±41079.16-ton CO2eq/year for pre-filling; 178254.53±105838.01-ton CO2eq/year for filling; and 466946.57-ton CO2eq/year for post-filling (for 5 years), concluding that the weather conditions and the filling percentage had an impact on the generation of greenhouse gases at filling and post-filling stages, as did the organic matter present in the area of influence of the sampling point. Higher greenhouse gas emissions were found during the day compared to the results at night, indicating that temperature affects these processes especially in tropical reservoirs.