Glacial lakes in high-altitude regions influence both water systems and greenhouse gas emissions

The gap

Evidence profile

Sourced from the future work and abstract of the source papers, classified as general, drawn from work published between 2024 and 2025, spanning 4 journals. Those papers have been cited 36 times in total.

Supporting evidence — 4 representative gaps

• Recognizing Agricultural Headwaters as Critical Ecosystems (2024) · Environmental Science & Technology · cited 26× · doi

  (36) Kaushal, S. S.; Mayer, P. M.; Vidon, P. G.; Smith, R. M.; Pennino, M. J.; Newcomer, T. A.; Duan, S.; Welty, C.; Belt, K. T. Land Use and Climate Variability Amplify Carbon, Nutrient, and Implications. Contaminant Pulses: A Review with Management JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 2014, 50 (3), 585−614. (37) Blackburn, S. R.; Stanley, E. H. Floods increase carbon dioxide and methane fluxes in agricultural streams. Freshwater Biology 2021, 66 (1), 62−77. (38) Hotchkiss, E. R.; Hall, R. O., Jr; Sponseller, R. A.; Butman, D.; Klaminder, J.; Laudon, H.; Rosvall, M.; Karlsson, J. Sources of and processes controlling CO2 emissions change with the size of streams and rivers. Nature Geoscience 2015, 8 (9), 696−699. (39) Wallin, M. B.; Audet, J.; Peacock, M.; Sahlée, E.; Winterdahl, M. Carbon dioxide dynamics in an agricultural headwater stream driven by hydrology and primary production. Biogeosciences 2020, 17 (9), 2487−2498. (40) Webb, J. R.; Clough, T. J.; Quayle, W. C. A review of indirect N2O emission factors from artificial agricultural waters. Environmental Research Letters 2021, 16 (4), 043005. (41) Saunois, M.; Stavert, A. R.; Poulter, B.; Bousquet, P.; Canadell, J. G.; Jackson, R. B.; Raymond, P. A.; Dlugokencky, E. J.; Houweling, S.; Patra, P. K.; Ciais, P.; Arora, V. K.; Bastviken, D.; Bergamaschi, P.; Blake, D. R.; Brailsford, G.; Bruhwiler, L.; Carlson, K. M.; Carrol, M.; Castaldi, S.; Chandra, N.; Crevoisier, C.; Crill, P. M.; Covey, K.; Curry, C. L.; Etiope, G.; Frankenberg, C.; Gedney, N.; Hegglin, M. I.; Höglund-Isaksson, L.; Hugelius, G.; Ishizawa, M.; Ito, A.; Janssens- Maenhout, G.; Jensen, K. M.; Joos, F.; Kleinen, T.; Krummel, P. B.; Langenfelds, R. L.; Laruelle, G. G.; Liu, L.; Machida, T.; Maksyutov, S.; McDonald, K. C.; McNorton, J.; Miller, P. A.; Melton, J. R.; Morino, I.; Müller, J.; Murguia-Flores, F.; Naik, V.; Niwa, Y.; Noce, S.; O’Doherty, S.; Parker, R. J.; Peng, C.; Peng, S.; Peters, G. P.; Prigent, C.; Prinn, R.; Ramonet, M.; Regnier, P.; Riley, W. J.; Rosentreter, J. A.; Segers, A.; Simpson, I. J.; Shi, H.; Smith, S. J.; Steele, L. P.; Thornton, B. F.; Tian, H.; Tohjima, Y.; Tubiello, F. N.; Tsuruta, A.; Viovy, N.; Voulgarakis, A.; Weber, T. S.; van Weele, M.; van der Werf, G. R.; Weiss, R. F.; Worthy, D.; Wunch, D.; Yin, Y.; Yoshida, Y.; Zhang, W.; Zhang, Z.; Zhao, Y.; Zheng, B.; Zhu, Q.; Zhu, Q.; Zhuang, Q. The Global Methane Budget 2000−2017. Earth System Science Data 2020, 12 (3), 1561−1623. (42) Zhu, Y.; Jones, J. I.; Collins, A. L.; Zhang, Y.; Olde, L.; Rovelli, L.; Murphy, J. F.; Heppell, C. M.; Trimmer, M. Separating natural from human enhanced methane emissions in headwater streams. Nat. Commun. 2022, 13 (1), 3810. (43) Vidon, P. G.; Welsh, M. K.; Hassanzadeh, Y. T. Twenty Years of Riparian Zone Research (1997−2017): Where to Next? Journal of Environmental Quality 2019, 48 (2), 248−260. (44) Richardson, J. Biological Diversity in Headwater Streams. Water 2019, 11 (2), 366. (45) Göth

  generalfuture work
  Keywords: streams carbon methane agricultural headwater zhang vidon smith review journal water dioxide emissions environmental peng
• The carbon source-sink function of Hulun Lake, a large shallow eutrophic lake in northern China (2025) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · cited 1× · doi

  While further research is necessary to generalize these findings, our results provide compelling evidence for the significant role of lakes in the carbon cycle, and highlighting the importance of considering both carbon burial and carbon emission in assessments of the carbon sink-source function.

  generalabstract
  Keywords: carbon further necessary generalize provide compelling evidence significant role lakes cycle highlighting importance considering burial
• CO2 Emissions From Low Order Tundra Streams Stimulated by Surface‐Subsurface Connectivity Following Extreme Rainfall Events (2025) · Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences · cited 3× · doi

  Understanding how hydrologic regime, influenced by late summer rain events and stream morphology, controls the transport of CO2 and metabolism in small tundra streams will help improve predictions of landscape scale CO2 emissions from these critically understudied systems.

  generalabstractevidence 5/5
  Keywords: understanding hydrologic regime influenced late summer rain events stream morphology controls transport metabolism small tundra
• Glacier-fed lakes produce lower methane fluxes than non-glacier-fed lakes on the Tibetan Plateau (2025) · Communications Earth & Environment · cited 6× · doi

  Abstract Glacial lakes in high-altitude regions influence both water systems and greenhouse gas emissions, yet the effects of different hydrological recharge mechanisms on methane release and microbial ecosystems remain poorly understood.

  generalabstractevidence 2/5
  Keywords: abstract glacial lakes high altitude regions influence water systems greenhouse emissions effects different hydrological recharge

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