Technical note: Skirt chamber – an open dynamic method for the rapid and minimally intrusive measurement of greenhouse gas emissions from peatlands

We present a reliable and robust open dynamic chamber for measuring greenhouse gas exchange in peatlands with minimal disturbance of the ground. This chamber, called the “skirt chamber”, is based on a transparent plastic film placed above an open frame made of sparse interwoven wires and expanded around the base of the chamber below a steel chain that ensures contact to the ground, avoiding damage, trenching, and cutting vegetation. Gas exchange is determined using a portable gas analyzer from a mass balance in which the imperfect sealing of the chamber to the ground is quantified through the injection of a methane pulse. The method was tested on a pristine peatland dominated by Sphagnum magellanicum located on Navarino Island in the subantarctic Magellanic ecoregion in Chile. Our results indicate that the skirt chamber allowed the determination of methane fluxes and ecosystem respiration in about 20 min, with a limit of detection of 0.185 mg CH4 m−2 h−1 and 173 mg CO2 m−2 h−1, respectively. We conclude that the skirt chamber is a minimally intrusive, fast, portable, and inexpensive method that allows the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions with high spatial resolution in remote locations and without delay.</p

Ice cover on lake Kitiesh

Movie showing the ice layer covering lake Kitiesh (Fildes Peninsula, King George Island; 62.1942, -58.9640)

Supplementary material: Mobile open dynamic chamber measurement of methane macroseeps in lakes

Supplementary material of the article "Mobile open dynamic chamber measurement of methane macroseeps in lakes

Lake Kitiesh 8.5 m

Movie showing the bottom of lake Kitiesh (Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, -62.1942; -58.9640), on November 28th, 2017

Esieh lake seepage HESS

Movie showing intense ebullition on Esieh lake, in support to "Mobile open dynamic chamber measurement of methane macroseeps in lakes

Ice cover on lake Kitiesh

Movie showing the ice layer covering lake Kitiesh (Fildes Peninsula, King George Island; 62.1942, -58.9640)

MOD chamber HESS data

Data of Figures presented in "Mobile open dynamic chamber measurement of methane macroseeps in lakes

Supplementary material: Mobile open dynamic chamber measurement of methane macroseeps in lakes

Supplementary material of the article "Mobile open dynamic chamber measurement of methane macroseeps in lakes

Lake Kitiesh 8.5 m

Movie showing the bottom of lake Kitiesh (Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, -62.1942; -58.9640), on November 28th, 2017