Urbanization and seasonality strengthens the CO₂ capacity of the Red River Delta, Vietnam

Abstract Tropical rivers are dynamic CO 2 sources. Regional patterns in the partial pressure of CO 2 ( p CO 2 ) and relationships with other a/biotic factors in densely populated and rapidly developing river delta regions of Southeast Asia are still poorly constrained. Over one year, at 21 sites across the river system in the Red River Delta (RRD), Vietnam, we calculated p CO 2 levels from temperature, pH, and total alkalinity and inter-linkages between p CO 2 and phytoplankton, water chemistry and seasonality were then assessed. The smaller, more urbanized, and polluted Day River had an annual median p CO 2 of 5000 ± 3300 µ atm and the larger Red River of 2675 ± 2271 µ atm. p CO 2 was 1.6 and 3.2 times higher during the dry season in the Day and Red rivers respectively than the rainy season. Elevated p CO 2 levels in the Day River during the dry season were also 2.4-fold higher than the median value (2811 ± 3577 µ atm) of calculated and direct p CO 2 measurements in >20 sub/tropical rivers. By further categorizing the river data into Hanoi City vs. other less urban-populated provinces, we found significantly higher nutrients, organic matter content, and riverine cyanobacteria during the dry season in the Day River across Hanoi City. Forward selection also identified riverine cyanobacteria and river discharge as the main predictors explaining p CO 2 variation in the RRD. After accounting for the shared effects (14%), river discharge alone significantly explained 12% of the p CO 2 variation, cyanobacteria uniquely a further 21%, while 53% of the p CO 2 variance was unexplained by either. We show that the urbanization of rivers deltas could result in increased sources of riverine p CO 2 , water pollution, and harmful cyanobacterial blooms. Such risks could be mitigated through water management to increase water flows in problem areas during the dry season.