A re-examination of closed flux chamber methods for the measurement of trace gas emissions from soils to the atmosphere

The most widely used method for measuring the emission of a trace gas such as N2O from soil to the atmosphere involves the accumulation of the gas under closed chambers followed by sampling and analysis (by gas chromatography or infrared methods). These chambers can affect the gas exchange, and so improved designs have been proposed. We have tested their performance. One design includes a vent tube to allow ambient pressure fluctuations to occur also inside the chamber. We tested it against a sealed version on two different grassland sites during N2O peak emissions in spring 1997. On a well-drained soil with a fairly large air permeability vented chambers yielded fluxes as much as five times those of sealed chambers, depending on wind speed. By contrast, on a heavier and wetter soil with smaller air permeability vented chambers averaged only 88% of the fluxes observed with sealed chambers. The effects of venting cannot be explained solely on the basis of mean pressure differences inside and outside the chamber. It seems more likely that wind blowing over the vent depressurizes the chamber (Venturi effect), resulting in significant gas flow from the more permeable soil into the interior of the chamber. The opposite trend for the less permeable soil suggests that diffusion losses through the vent tube are greater than the increase in concentration due to soil gas flow. Venting can create larger errors than the ones it is supposed to overcome.