Estimating greenhouse gas emissions from a waste lagoon

A cost-effective approach was used to investigate the relationship between emission of the greenhouse gases (GHG), namely, CO2, CH4, and N2O and energy fluxes from a swine waste lagoon. Energy fluxes were calculated using the Penman method. The energy fluxes showed a diurnal pattern as expected of such fluxes. We found that air temperature and latent energy, lagoon surface temperature and solar radiation, as well as air temperature and wind speed can be used to predict for CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions, respectively. Comparison of observed and predicted emissions provided r2 values of 0.49, 0.61, and 0.69 for CH4, N2O, and CO2, respectively. This research shows that long-term studies of GHG emissions and meteorological conditions are necessary to better understand the factors controlling the emissions of GHG in order to devise best management practices (BMP) for their control.