Opportunity Title:

Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Water Impoundments

Research Area:

Climate Change

EPA Lab/Center/Office:

National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL)

Location:

Cincinnati, OH

Duration:

3 - 12 months

Brief Summary:

Conduct field work, lab work and data analysis to quantify the magnitude of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from water impoundments (i.e. reservoirs). This research will be used to improve the nation’s GHG inventory.

Opportunity Description:

EPA is responsible for reporting the nation’s annual greenhouse gas inventory to the United Nations. Recent studies indicate that the current estimate of methane (CH₄) emissions in the United States is too low, suggesting that the inventory may be missing important CH₄ sources. Research by EPA scientists indicates that CH₄ emissions from reservoirs (i.e. impounded waters), a CH₄ source not included in the inventory, may be significant at the national scale. The objective of this project is to generate a national scale estimate of CH₄ emissions from reservoirs using advanced measurement and statistical approaches. Another objective of the project is to identify the environmental factors that promote reservoir CH₄ emissions. 

This large research effort will present many opportunities for student involvement, such as the survey of CH₄ emissions from 1000 lakes and reservoirs in the United States as part of EPA’s National Lakes Assessment (/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/nla).  A related research effort is a spatially-intensive survey of CH₄ emissions from 21 reservoirs in the Midwestern United States.  The student will also have the opportunity to use advanced analytical systems to measure CH₄ emission rates using eddy covariance methods. 

The student should have an interest and technical expertise in data management and statistical packages (i.e. R, Excel, ArcGIS, etc). 

Opportunities for Professional Development:

The student will gain experience working with a team, identifying research questions, interpreting environmental data, and communicating research results to scientists, stake holders and policy makers. The student will also gain exposure to multiple research partners and work closely with colleagues at the EPA, USGS, Army Corps of Engineers and multiple universities.

Point of Contact or Mentor:

Jake Beaulieu (beaulieu.jake@epa.gov)