| Abstract: | Rice paddies are an important anthropogenic source of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere, which aggravate the global warming greatly. CH4 fluxes from a rice paddy in Central China were continuously measured with the eddy covariance method in 2018. The characteristics, dynamics and drivers of the observed CH4 fluxes from this paddy field were subsequently analyzed. The results indicated that a distinct seasonal variation of daily CH4 fluxes was found over the whole observed period. Daily CH4 fluxes were the highest in the vegetative period, then decreased gradually, and became the lowest in the fallow period; observed CH4 fluxes had a clear single-peak diurnal pattern during the vegetative and reproductive periods, and reached daily peaks at about 14:00-16:00. However, no obvious diurnal variation in CH4 fluxes was observed during the fallow period; air temperature was the most important drivers that controlled the seasonal variation of CH4 fluxes from this paddy field, and Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) was also found related to the CH4 emissions; the largest daily CH4 flux was 0.69 μmol/(m2·s), occurred in the late of vegetative period, and the total amount of CH4 emissions over the whole observed period was about 28 g C/m2. |
