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Nitrous oxide in fresh waters of the Great Lakes Basin 1
Author(s) -
Lemon Edgar,
Lemon Donna
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1981.26.5.0867
Subject(s) - tributary , environmental science , surface runoff , nitrous oxide , hydrology (agriculture) , nutrient , atmosphere (unit) , sink (geography) , groundwater , saturation (graph theory) , water table , environmental chemistry , ecology , geography , chemistry , geology , biology , cartography , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , combinatorics , meteorology
Evidence presented favors the hypothesis that little N 2 O is transported by rivers into or out of the Great Lakes; rather it is generated or consumed in situ. However transport of nutrients into and out of the lakes probably influences production and consumption within the lakes, i.e. NO 3 − and organic matter in runoff from land and effluent from cities. Exchange values of N 2 O between the atmosphere and the lakes calculated from two models are related to the degree of N 2 O saturation of surface water. The range of fluxes is about 10 times larger than estimates made for the open ocean, i.e. ± 4 pg·cm −2 ·s −1 . Groundwater under a large dairy farm was rich in N 2 O, but once the N 2 O seeped into a headwaters tributary it was lost to the atmosphere.