Poster Details
DETERMINING THE SYNCHRONY OF CO2 FLUX IN DIFFERENT PONDS NEAR BARROW, ALASKA
The tundra houses more than one-third of the world's soil carbon and tundra ponds may contribute a substantial amount of carbon to the landscape carbon budget, despite making up a relatively small component of the landscape. The study's purpose was to examine variation in diurnal carbon dioxide (CO2) flux in tundra ponds near Barrow, Alaska. CO2 concentrations were logged for 48 hours at 8 ponds surveyed over 2 weeks in summer 2018. Average CO2 concentrations within any pond ranged from 311 to 4310 µatm, with an overall average of 1541, indicating that ponds were a source of CO2 to the atmosphere. Correlations were done to see the degree of synchrony among ponds. Most ponds followed similar diurnal trends in CO2 (r>0.55, p<0.05). Variability among ponds could be explained by temporal variability in precipitation and solar radiation, as well as the chemical and physical properties of the ponds. Further research on the ponds is needed in order to determine what controls the CO2 flux in a period of changing climate.
Vanessa Lougheed (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Texas at El Paso, vlougheed@utep.edu;
Luis Del Val (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Texas at El Paso, ladelval@miners.utep.edu;