Patch-level chamber-based CH4 and CO2 flux measurements in freshwater and salt marshes of coastal Louisiana

Abstract

This dataset contains chamber-based carbon dioxide and methane flux measurements from ecohydrological patches in two coastal wetlands in Louisiana (within the footprint of AmeriFlux sites US-LA2 and US-LA3). Measurements span four patches, two per wetland. At the freshwater marsh (US-LA2), patches were dominated by Sagittaria lancifolia or co-dominated by Sagittaria lancifolia and Typha latifolia. At the salt marsh site (US-LA3), patches were dominated by Spartina alterniflora or Juncus roemerianus. Flux measurements included (i) wetland surface-level measurements encompassing the entire soil-water-vegetation column and (ii) soil-water surface chamber measurements that excluded emergent vegetation. At US-LA3, open-water pools were common and were also measured as a patch type. With this data we aimed to assess differences in gas flux pathways within ecohydrological patches across different wetland types. Files can be read in any program or code typical of processing .csv file types. "PatchChambers_LA2LA3.csv" covers flux data from patch level chambers which includes bulk CO2/CH4 flux encompassing water, soil, and vegetation within each chamber. "Water_Soil_SurfaceChamber_LA2LA3.csv" has CO2/CH4 flux data from chambers measuring only the water-soil surface without the effects of vegetation. Metadata can be found in the similarly named files for each data sheet ("xxxx_md.csv").