Turning attention to reservoir surfaces, a neglected area in greenhouse studies

Carol A. Kelly, Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2; John W. M. Rudd, Freshwater Institute, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N6; Vincent L. St. Louis, Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2; Tim Moore, Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6 With reservoir construction increasing worldwide since the 1950s, the volume of water retained in these structures today is so great that if they didn't exist, sea level would be 3 cm higher. Despite the 500,000 km2 global area reservoirs comprise—about twice the area of the Laurentian Great Lakes—almost nothing is known about reservoir surfaces as sources or sinks of the “greenhouse” gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4).