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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Wetlands and Aquatic Processes

Emission of the Greenhouse Gases Nitrous Oxide and Methane from Constructed Wetlands in Europe

^a Bioforsk-Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research–Soil and Environment Division, Frederik A. Dahls vei 20, 1432 Ås, Norway
^b Institute of Primary Production and Microbial Ecology, The Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Str. 84, D-15374 Müncheberg, Germany
^c North Ostrobothnia Regional Environment Centre (NOREC), P.O. Box 124, 90101 Oulu, Finland
^d Department of Environmental Sciences, Bioteknia 2, University of Kuopio, P.O. Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
^e AGH-University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, Department of Environmental Physics, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
^f Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Process and Environmental Engineering, PL 4300, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland
^g University of Tartu, Institute of Geography, 46 Vanemuise Street, 51014 Tartu, Estonia
^h Finnish Environmental Institute (SYKE), P.O. BOX 140, 00251 Helsinki, Finland

^* Corresponding author (anne.sovik{at}bioforsk.no)

Received for publication January 26, 2006. The potential atmospheric impact of constructed wetlands (CWs) should be examined as there is a worldwide increase in the development of these systems. Fluxes of N₂O, CH₄, and CO₂ have been measured from CWs in Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Poland during winter and summer in horizontal and vertical subsurface flow (HSSF and VSSF), free surface water (FSW), and overland and groundwater flow (OGF) wetlands. The fluxes of N₂O–N, CH₄–C, and CO₂–C ranged from –2.1 to 1000, –32 to 38 000, and –840 to 93 000 mg m^–2 d^–1, respectively. Emissions of N₂O and CH₄ were significantly higher during summer than during winter. The VSSF wetlands had the highest fluxes of N₂O during both summer and winter. Methane emissions were highest from the FSW wetlands during wintertime. In the HSSF wetlands, the emissions of N₂O and CH₄ were in general highest in the inlet section. The vegetated ponds in the FSW wetlands released more N₂O than the nonvegetated ponds. The global warming potential (GWP), summarizing the mean N₂O and CH₄ emissions, ranged from 5700 to 26000 and 830 to 5100 mg CO₂ equivalents m^–2 d^–1 for the four CW types in summer and winter, respectively. The wintertime GWP was 8.5 to 89.5% of the corresponding summertime GWP, which highlights the importance of the cold season in the annual greenhouse gas release from north temperate and boreal CWs. However, due to their generally small area North European CWs were suggested to represent only a minor source for atmospheric N₂O and CH₄.

Abbreviations: CW, constructed wetland • FSW, free surface water • GWP, global warming potential • HSSF, horizontal subsurface flow • OGF, overland and groundwater flow • SSF, subsurface flow • VSSF, vertical subsurface flow