Greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and CH4) and inorganic carbon behavior in an urban highly polluted tropical coastal lagoon (SE, Brazil)

Luiz Cotovicz (1, 2) , Renato Ribeiro (3) , Carolina Ramos Régis (1) , Marcelo Bernardes (1) , Rodrigo Sobrinho (1) , Luciana Oliveira Vidal (4) , Daniel Tremmel (1) , Bastiaan Knoppers (1) , Gwenaël Abril (5, 1)

1 UFF - Universidade Federal Fluminense [Rio de Janeiro]
2 UFC - Universidade Federal do Ceará = Federal University of Ceará
3 Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio de Janeiro
4 UENF - Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro
5 BOREA - Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques

Increasing eutrophication of coastal waters generates disturbances in greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations and emissions to the atmosphere that are still poorly documented, particularly in the tropics. Here, we investigated the concentrations and diffusive fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in the urban-dominated Jacarepagua Lagoon Complex (JLC) in Southeastern Brazil. This lagoonal complex receives highly polluted freshwater and shows frequent occurrences of anoxia and hypoxia and dense phytoplankton blooms. Between 2017 and 2018, four spatial surveys were performed (dry and wet conditions), with sampling in the river waters that drain the urban watershed and in the lagoon waters with increasing salinities. Strong oxygen depletion was found in the rivers, associated with extremely high values of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2; up to 20,417 ppmv) and CH4 concentrations (up to 288,572 nmol L−1). These high GHG concentrations are attributed to organic matter degradation from untreated domestic effluents mediated by aerobic and anaerobic processes, with concomitant production of total alkalinity (TA) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). In the lagoon, GHG concentrations decreased mainly due to dilution with seawater and degassing. In addition, the phytoplankton growth and CH4 oxidation apparently consumed some CO2 and CH4, respectively. TA concentrations showed a marked minimum at salinity of ~20 compared to the two freshwater and marine end members, indicating processes of re-oxidation of inorganic reduced species from the low-salinity region, such as ammonia, iron, and/or sulfides. Diffusive emissions of gases from the entire lagoon ranged from 22 to 48 mmol C m−2 d−1 for CO2 and from 2.2 to 16.5 mmol C m−2 d−1 for CH4. This later value is among the highest documented in coastal waters. In terms of global warming potential (GWP) and CO2 equivalent emissions (CO2-eq), the diffusive emissions of CH4 were higher than those of CO2. These results highlight that highly polluted coastal ecosystems are hotspots of GHG emissions to the atmosphere, which may become increasingly significant in future global carbon budgets.

Mots clés: Carbon dioxide; Methane; Carbonate chemistry; Coastal eutrophication; Environment pollution; Coastal lagoons; Carbon dioxide

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

Luiz Cotovicz, Renato Ribeiro, Carolina Ramos Régis, Marcelo Bernardes, Rodrigo Sobrinho, et al.. Greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and CH4) and inorganic carbon behavior in an urban highly polluted tropical coastal lagoon (SE, Brazil). Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2021, 28 (28), pp.38173-38192. ⟨10.1007/s11356-021-13362-2⟩. ⟨hal-03375521⟩