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Methane emissions from the eastern temperate wetland region and spectral characteristics of subarctic fens

Emissions of methane were measured by a static chamber technique at 9 sites on 5 wetlands in the Eastern Temperate Wetland Region, north of Montreal. Mean daily methane fluxes measured from May to October ranged from 0.18 to 1071 mg/m$ sp2$/d, and estimated annual flux ranged from 0.02 to 186 g/m$ sp2$/y. Laboratory incubations of peat samples showed potential anaerobic methane production rates which ranged from 0.00 to 9.12 $ mu$g/g/d, and potential aerobic consumption rates from 0.55 to 3.75 $ mu$g/g/d. Seasonal methane emission patterns are related to water table level and CH$ sb4$ production and consumption potentials in the peat profile. Episodic fluxes were found to be important at several sites, contributing a significant portion of the total emissions. / Analysis of spectral reflectance data from 20 sites on 2 subarctic fens was carried out to address the issue of scaling up CH$ sb4$ emissions using satellite imagery. Hummocks, lawns and pools were found to be spectrally distinct enough to be differentiated by band 5 of Landsat MSS and band 3 of Landsat TM sensors. The averaging of spectral information in mixed pixels proved unlikely to be able to distinguish between wet lawn and string and pool communities. Such weaknesses can be overcome with the use of higher resolution data.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.69714
Date January 1993
CreatorsWindsor, James
ContributorsMoore, T. R. (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Science (Department of Geography.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001395896, proquestno: AAIMM91812, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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