• Take into account inland water processes for climate change mitigation: ponds, lakes, wetlands, streams, rivers, reservoirs.

The boundless carbon czcle

  • Inland waters transport, mineralize and bury $~2.7$ PgC yr$^{-1}$, similar to size of terrestrial C sink for anthropogenic emissions.
  • Inland water fluxes are lateral. They might reconcile discrepancies of continental C balance measured at different scales.
  • More storms, more erosion, more C transported to inland water.
  • Current (2009) inverse atmospheric models are too coarse to attribute C fluxes to inland waters. They get mixed into terrestrial biosphere.
  • Inland waters not used in models’ main land types.
  • Unclear if additional sedimental inland water C burial (by higher erosion) is an additional C sink or just a redistribution from terrestrial bioshere.
  • Taking inland water CO${}_2$ outgassing into account requires higher ecosystem production to close the carbon budget.
  • Inland waters release more methane.
  • Integrated watershed management: connects land and water when considering the effects of soil erosion, urbanization, riparian zone restoration and dam construction or removal, on carbon burial in — and outgassing from — inland waters.
  • water residence time and concentrations of organic carbon