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Temperature independence of carbon dioxide supersaturation in global lakes
Author(s) -
Sobek Sebastian,
Tranvik Lars J.,
Cole Jonathan J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/2004gb002264
Subject(s) - carbon dioxide , supersaturation , environmental science , dissolved organic carbon , carbon respiration , atmosphere (unit) , carbon dioxide in earth's atmosphere , carbon cycle , respiration , carbon fibers , substrate (aquarium) , environmental chemistry , soil water , flux (metallurgy) , atmospheric sciences , ecosystem , ecology , chemistry , soil science , carbon sequestration , biology , geology , geography , materials science , botany , negative carbon dioxide emission , organic chemistry , composite number , composite material , meteorology
A growing body of evidence suggests that most of the world's lakes are supersaturated with CO 2 and export significant amounts of CO 2 to the atmosphere. Still, the temperature dependence of the partial pressure of CO 2 (pCO 2 ) in lakes, which is the main driver of carbon flux across the air‐water interface, has not yet been assessed. Analyzing a global‐scale database of 4902 lakes, we show that temperature is not an important regulator of pCO 2 in lakes. Instead, the concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), a substrate for microbial respiration, explains significant variation in lake pCO 2 . Contrary to what may be expected from the physiological constraints of temperature, effects of climate change on the carbon balance of lakes may not be due to rising temperature per se, but rather to climatically induced changes in the export of DOC from terrestrial soils to aquatic habitats.