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Long‐term suppression of wetland methane flux following a pulse of simulated acid rain
Author(s) -
Gauci Vincent,
Dise Nancy,
Blake Stephen
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2005gl022544
Subject(s) - acid rain , sulfate , methane , volcano , environmental science , wetland , flux (metallurgy) , atmospheric sciences , deposition (geology) , pollution , sulfate aerosol , vulcanian eruption , environmental chemistry , geology , chemistry , geochemistry , geomorphology , ecology , biology , organic chemistry , sediment
Wetlands are a potent source of the radiatively important gas methane (CH 4 ). Recent findings have demonstrated that sulfate (SO 4 2− ) deposition via acid rain suppresses CH 4 emissions by stimulating competitive exclusion of methanogens by sulfate‐reducing microbial populations. Here we report data from a field experiment showing that a finite pulse of simulated acid rain SO 4 2− deposition, as would be expected from a large Icelandic volcanic eruption, continues to suppress CH 4 emissions from wetlands long after the pollution event has ceased. Our analysis of the stoichiometries suggests that 5 years is a minimum CH 4 emission recovery period, with 10 years being a reasonable upper limit. Our findings highlight the long‐term impact of acid rain on biospheric output of CH 4 which, for discrete polluting events such as volcanic eruptions, outlives the relatively short‐term SO 4 2− aerosol radiative cooling effect.