Measurement of Methane Fluxes from Terrestrial Landscapes Using Static, Non-steady State Enclosures

Abstract

gas whose concentration in the atmosphere has doubled over the past 150 years. Evaluating the impacts of CH, emissions on global climate and developing policies to mitigate those impacts requires a quantifiable and predictive understanding of natural CH, processing. Developing field sampling campaigns that quantify CH, flux in landscapes with prominent wetland features is a vital first step to developing that understanding. This chapter describes a field sampling approach that relies on static chambers to capture the CH, emitted from saturated soils and laboratory analyses of sequential samples to quantify CH, fluxes. Ultimately, by relating CH, fluxes from intensively sampled field sites to more easily measured ecosystem properties (e.g., temperature, water table, and productivity), models may be developed to predict CH, fluxes at larger landscape and regional scales.