Bubble trap locations and preliminary data are included below.

We collect samples once every 2 weeks. The volume of gas we collect at each buoy is shown in the chart below (which we try to keep updated) . You can see that not all sites are as productive as others in terms of bubble release from the lakebed. For example, Buoy 2 often has the most gas, while Buoy 1 often has very little.

Also the amount of bubbles released across sites varies with time. Significantly more bubbles were released in Mystic Lake between June 8 and June 29, than other two week periods. This may be do to factors like storms, as change in atmospheric pressure associated with weather systems can trigger bubble release.

Quantifying the volume of bubbles released from the lakebed is our first analytical step. We then analyze the chemistry of the bubbles from each site to learn how much is methane, nitrogen, oxygen, etc.

After, we purify the methane to analyze the chemistry of the methane molecules released at each site. Methane molecules can have different configurations of heavy and light carbon and hydrogen atoms (called isotopes). These isotopes are often used to understand the source of methane in the environment (produced from oil leaks, cows, wetlands, etc.) We are quantifying how much these configurations vary in space (between one buoy and another) and time (from week to week).