Articles | Volume 18, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1619-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1619-2021
Technical note
 | 
09 Mar 2021
Technical note |  | 09 Mar 2021

Technical note: CO2 is not like CH4 – limits of and corrections to the headspace method to analyse pCO2 in fresh water

Matthias Koschorreck, Yves T. Prairie, Jihyeon Kim, and Rafael Marcé

Related authors

Surface CO2 gradients challenge conventional CO2 emission quantification in lentic water bodies under calm conditions
Patrick Aurich, Uwe Spank, and Matthias Koschorreck
Biogeosciences, 22, 1697–1709, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1697-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1697-2025, 2025
Short summary
Diurnal versus spatial variability of greenhouse gas emissions from an anthropogenically modified lowland river in Germany
Matthias Koschorreck, Norbert Kamjunke, Uta Koedel, Michael Rode, Claudia Schuetze, and Ingeborg Bussmann
Biogeosciences, 21, 1613–1628, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1613-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1613-2024, 2024
Short summary
Temporal patterns and drivers of CO2 emission from dry sediments in a groyne field of a large river
Matthias Koschorreck, Klaus Holger Knorr, and Lelaina Teichert
Biogeosciences, 19, 5221–5236, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5221-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5221-2022, 2022
Short summary
A closed-chamber method to measure greenhouse gas fluxes from dry aquatic sediments
Lukas Lesmeister and Matthias Koschorreck
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2377–2382, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2377-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2377-2017, 2017
Short summary
CO2 emissions from German drinking water reservoirs estimated from routine monitoring data
H. Saidi and M. Koschorreck
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2015-648,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2015-648, 2016
Manuscript not accepted for further review
Short summary

Related subject area

Biogeochemistry: Greenhouse Gases
Surface CO2 gradients challenge conventional CO2 emission quantification in lentic water bodies under calm conditions
Patrick Aurich, Uwe Spank, and Matthias Koschorreck
Biogeosciences, 22, 1697–1709, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1697-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1697-2025, 2025
Short summary
Spatiotemporal variability of CO2, N2O and CH4 fluxes from a semi-deciduous tropical forest soil in the Congo Basin
Roxanne Daelman, Marijn Bauters, Matti Barthel, Emmanuel Bulonza, Lodewijk Lefevre, José Mbifo, Johan Six, Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Benjamin Wolf, Ralf Kiese, and Pascal Boeckx
Biogeosciences, 22, 1529–1542, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1529-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1529-2025, 2025
Short summary
Eddy-covariance fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O in a drained peatland forest after clear-cutting
Olli-Pekka Tikkasalo, Olli Peltola, Pavel Alekseychik, Juha Heikkinen, Samuli Launiainen, Aleksi Lehtonen, Qian Li, Eduardo Martínez-García, Mikko Peltoniemi, Petri Salovaara, Ville Tuominen, and Raisa Mäkipää
Biogeosciences, 22, 1277–1300, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1277-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1277-2025, 2025
Short summary
Eddy covariance evaluation of ecosystem fluxes at a temperate saltmarsh in Victoria, Australia, shows large CO2 uptake
Ruth Reef, Edoardo Daly, Tivanka Anandappa, Eboni-Jane Vienna-Hallam, Harriet Robertson, Matthew Peck, and Adrien Guyot
Biogeosciences, 22, 1149–1162, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1149-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1149-2025, 2025
Short summary
Interferences caused by the biogeochemical methane cycle in peats during the assessment of abandoned oil wells
Sebastian F. A. Jordan, Stefan Schloemer, Martin Krüger, Tanja Heffner, Marcus A. Horn, and Martin Blumenberg
Biogeosciences, 22, 809–830, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-809-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-809-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Aberg, J. and Wallin, M. B.: Evaluating a fast headspace method for measuring DIC and subsequent calculation of PCO2 in freshwater systems, Inland Waters, 4, 157–166, 2014. 
Abril, G., Bouillon, S., Darchambeau, F., Teodoru, C. R., Marwick, T. R., Tamooh, F., Ochieng Omengo, F., Geeraert, N., Deirmendjian, L., Polsenaere, P., and Borges, A. V.: Technical Note: Large overestimation of pCO2 calculated from pH and alkalinity in acidic, organic-rich freshwaters, Biogeosciences, 12, 67–78, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-67-2015, 2015. 
Cawley, K. M.: neonDissGas: Calculates Dissolved CO2, CH4, and N2O Concentrations in Surface Water, in: R-package, available at: https://github.com/NEONScience/NEON-dissolved-gas/tree/master/neonDissGas (last access: 3 March 2021), 2018. 
Cole, J. J. and Prairie, Y. T.: Dissolved CO2, in: Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, Elsevier, available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780123706263/encyclopedia-of-inland-waters#book-info (last access: 3 March 2021), 2009. 
Dickson, A. G. and Riley, J. P.: The estimation of acid dissociation constants in seawater media from potentionmetric titrations with strong base. I. The ionic product of water – Kw, Mar. Chem., 7, 89–99, https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4203(79)90001-X, 1979. 
Download
Short summary
The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in water samples is often measured using a gas chromatograph. Depending on the chemical composition of the water, this method can produce wrong results. We quantified the possible error and how it depends on water composition and the analytical procedure. We propose a method to correct wrong results by additionally analysing alkalinity in the samples. We provide an easily usable computer code to perform the correction calculations.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint