Fluxo de CO2 no reservatório da hidroelétrica de Curua-Una

Abstract

The construction of hydroelectric plants for power generation has long been considered a clean form of production; however at the end of the last century some studies have shown that reservoirs could be potential emitters of Greenhouse Gases GEE. The northern region of Brazil where the Amazon is located is considered a major energy producer due to the large number of rivers located in this region with potential for the creation of hydroelectric plants on the one hand very important for the country's economy, but on the environmental issue would be a problem. The floods and lakes created by water damming are responsible for bacterial activity rates and GEE production due to flooded and decomposed biomass in the early years, so low oxygen levels in the deep layers near the sediment favor methane generation. The increase in the water level causes areas to be flooded that were previously emersed, which leads to the release of nutrients and the consequent production of CO2 and CH4. The objective of the present work is to investigate the CO2 flux associated with the emission of greenhouse gases in a reservoir in the Curua-Una hydroelectric dam, which is related to the changes in the natural greenhouse effect and climate change in the Amazon. The conditions of the dammed area were used as a reference to carry out flow measurements using a static floating chamber to obtain the data necessary for analysis and study. Knowing that the emissions of reservoirs vary widely with the geographic location, type of vegetation around the reservoir, temperature, seasonality, size and depth of the reservoir the study was important to determine the contribution of GEE emitted by the reservoir of Curua- Una.