High‐frequency greenhouse gas flux measurement system detects winter storm surge effects on salt marsh

• Published in: Global change biology Vol. 24; no. 12; pp. 5961 - 5971
• Main Authors: Diefenderfer, Heida L., Cullinan, Valerie I., Borde, Amy B., Gunn, Cailene M., Thom, Ronald M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-12-2018; Wiley
• Subjects: Aquatic ecosystems; Atmosphere; Atmosphere - analysis; Carbon dioxide; Carbon Dioxide - analysis; Climate Change; Climatic Processes; CO2; Coastal environments; Data collection; Deployment; Detection; Detection limits; Dynamics; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Environmental changes; ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Flooding; Fluctuations; Fluxes; Gas exchange; Greenhouse effect; greenhouse gas; greenhouse gas, salt marsh, storm surge, CO2, soil flux chamber, terrestrial aquatic, terrestrial aquatic interface, sustained-flux global warming potential, global warming potential; Greenhouse Gases; Hydrologic data; Hydrology; Mathematical analysis; Measurement; Measurement methods; Methane; Night; Nitrous oxide; Nitrous Oxide - analysis; Plant communities; Plant populations; Plants - metabolism; salt marsh; Salt marshes; Saltmarshes; Sarcocornia perennis; Seasons; Soil; soil flux chamber; Soils; storm surge; Storm surges; Storms; sustained‐flux global warming potential; terrestrial aquatic; Terrestrial environments; Tidal waves; Uptake; Wetlands; Winter; Winter storms; terrestrial-aquatic; storm surge; sustained-flux global warming potential; Sarcocornia perennis; CO2; soil-flux chamber; greenhouse gas; salt marsh
• ISSN: 1354-1013; 1365-2486
• DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14430

The physical controlling factors on coastal plant communities are among the most dynamic of known ecosystems, but climate change alters coastal surface and subsurface hydrologic regimes, which makes rapid measurement of greenhouse gas fluxes critical. Greenhouse gas exchange rates in these terrestrial–aquatic ecosystems are highly variable worldwide with climate, soil type, plant community, and weather. Therefore, increasing data collection and availability should be a priority. Here, we demonstrate and validate physical and analytical modifications to automated soil‐flux chamber measurement methods for unattended use in tidally driven wetlands, allowing the high‐frequency capture of storm surge and day/night dynamics. Winter CO2 flux from Sarcocornia perennis marsh to the atmosphere was significantly greater during the day (2.8 mmol m−2 hr−1) than the night (2.2 mmol m−2 hr−1; p < 0.001), while CH4 was significantly greater during the night (0.16 μmol m−2 hr−1) than the day (−0.13 μmol m−2 hr−1; p = 0.04). The magnitude of CO2 flux during the day and the frequency of CH4 flux were reduced during a surge (p < 0.001). Surge did not significantly affect N2O flux, which without non‐detects was normally distributed around −24.2 nmol m−2 hr−1. Analysis with sustained‐flux global potentials and increased storm surge frequency scenarios, 2020 to 2100, suggested that the marsh in winter remains an atmospheric CO2 source. The modeled results showed an increased flux of CO2 to the atmosphere, while in soil, the uptake of CH4 increased and N2O uptake decreased. We present analytical routines to correctly capture gas flux curves in dynamic overland flooding conditions and to flag data that are below detection limits or from unobserved chamber‐malfunction situations. Storm surge is an important phenomenon globally, but event‐driven, episodic factors can be poorly estimated by infrequent sampling. Wider deployment of this system would permit inclusion of surge events in greenhouse gas estimates.
The rapid measurement of trace gas exchanges in coastal plant communities is necessary for establishing their sensitivity to highly dynamic physical controlling factors. We demonstrated and validated automated soil‐flux chamber measurement methods for unattended hourly collection of CO2, CH4, and N2O data including tidally flooded periods. Deployment on an eastern Pacific salt marsh for a lunar month in winter showed that storm surge conditions during the day and night significantly influenced the magnitude and frequency of CO2 and CH4 flux (p < 0.001) but did not affect N2O flux. We modeled CO2‐equivalent flux using sustained‐flux global potentials and increased storm surge frequency scenarios, 2020 to 2100.