Is methane released from the forest canopy?

doi:10.3832/ifor0591-004

Laboratory experiments show that rates of CH₄ emission from plant material depend exponentially on temperature and linearly on UV irradiance. The UV irradiance shall be spectrally weighted and shorter wavelengths results in higher CH₄ emissions. Global upscaling models for estimating aerobic CH₄, based on lab results, have be conducted with varying results, but until now field measurements based on profile and eddy covariance measurements have failed to show CH₄ emissions from forest canopies. To detect CH₄ production or consumption in the canopy of a beech stand we connected a CH₄ analyzer to a canopy air profile system that samples air below and above the canopy from seven different heights. A profile system with many vertical sample points can detect gas concentration gradients with a high sensitivity only under conditions with no or little air movements. Under these conditions we found indications of periodic CH₄ emissions in the canopy, but more data need to be analyzed before the magnitude of the canopy source of CH₄can be established.

Keywords

Methane, CH₄ emission, Forest canopy, Fagus sylvatica L.

Authors’ address

(1)

Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical university of Denmark, Biosystems Division, BIO-309, P.O. Box 49, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000 Roskilde (Denmark)

Corresponding author

TN Mikkelsen
temi@risoe.dtu.dk

Citation

Mikkelsen TN, Bruhn D, Ambus P, Larsen KS, Ibrom I, Pilegaard K (2011). Is methane released from the forest canopy?. iForest 4: 200-204. - doi: 10.3832/ifor0591-004

Paper history

Received: Jan 24, 2011
Accepted: Apr 21, 2011

First online: Nov 03, 2011
Publication Date: Nov 03, 2011
Publication Time: 6.53 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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