Development of Equations for Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emisions from the Son La Hydropower Reservoir

Abstract

Emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and CH4 from artificial reservoirs, especially wide lakes in the tropics as the Son La hydropower reservoir, are leading to global warming. CO2 and CH4 gases in hydropower reservoirs are caused by the decomposition of organic matter in the lakes. In this study, regression analysis was used for estimating the relationships among water quality parameters measured at the Son La hydropower reservoir and the fluxes of greenhouse gas emissions from the reservoir. The regression analysis was also applied to develop regression equations predicting emissions of greenhouse gases from the lake. Results of study showed that the CO2 emission from the Son La hydropower reservoir could be predictable from several water quality parameters of which 4 main factors are temperature, DO, alkalinity, pH. The amount of CH4 emission from the Son La hydropower reservoir has solid relationships with 3 main factors, including temperature, COD, pH. The regression equations predicting CO2 and CH4 with the correlation coefficient of 0.93 and 0.92 have been tested with real data and gave the good results. Since they could be introduced in reality.