Hydrochemical and sedimentary responses of paired High Arctic watersheds to unusual climate and permafrost disturbance, Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Canada
Abstract High Arctic river responses to changing hydroclimatic and landscape processes are poorly understood. In non‐glacierized basins, snowmelt and rainfall generate river discharge, which provides first order control over fluxes. Further factors include the seasonality of precipitation, seasonal...
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crwiley:10.1002/hyp.8335 2024-09-15T18:08:01+00:00 Hydrochemical and sedimentary responses of paired High Arctic watersheds to unusual climate and permafrost disturbance, Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Canada Lewis, Ted Lafrenière, Melissa J. Lamoureux, Scott F. 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hyp.8335 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fhyp.8335 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/hyp.8335 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Hydrological Processes volume 26, issue 13, page 2003-2018 ISSN 0885-6087 1099-1085 journal-article 2011 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.8335 2024-08-30T04:11:51Z Abstract High Arctic river responses to changing hydroclimatic and landscape processes are poorly understood. In non‐glacierized basins, snowmelt and rainfall generate river discharge, which provides first order control over fluxes. Further factors include the seasonality of precipitation, seasonal active layer development, and permafrost disturbance. These controls were evaluated in terms of sedimentary and biogeochemical fluxes from paired catchments at Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Nunavut during 2006–2009. Results indicate that the source of runoff can be more important than the amount of runoff for sediment, solutes, and organic yields. Although the snowmelt period is typically the most important time for these yields, heavy late summer precipitation events can create disproportionately large yields. Rainfall increases yields because it hydrologically connects areas otherwise isolated. Inorganic solute yields from late summer rainfall are higher because the thick active layer maximizes hydrologic interactions with mineral soils and generates high solute concentrations. Results also indicate that while the catchments are broadly similar, subtle topographic differences result in important inter‐catchment differences in runoff and suspended and dissolved loads. The East watershed, which had less extensive permafrost disturbance, consistently had higher concentrations of dissolved solids. These higher dissolved fluxes cannot therefore be explained by thermokarst features, but rather by deeper active layer development, due to a greater proportion of south‐facing slopes. Although warm temperatures in 2007 led to extensive active layer disturbance in the West watershed, because the disturbances were largely hydrologically disconnected, the total disturbed area was small, and inter‐annual variability in discharge was high, there was no detectable response in dissolved loads to disturbances. Sediment availability increased after 2007, but yields have largely returned to pre‐disturbance levels. Results indicate that ... Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier* Nunavut permafrost Thermokarst Melville Island Wiley Online Library Hydrological Processes 26 13 2003 2018 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract High Arctic river responses to changing hydroclimatic and landscape processes are poorly understood. In non‐glacierized basins, snowmelt and rainfall generate river discharge, which provides first order control over fluxes. Further factors include the seasonality of precipitation, seasonal active layer development, and permafrost disturbance. These controls were evaluated in terms of sedimentary and biogeochemical fluxes from paired catchments at Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Nunavut during 2006–2009. Results indicate that the source of runoff can be more important than the amount of runoff for sediment, solutes, and organic yields. Although the snowmelt period is typically the most important time for these yields, heavy late summer precipitation events can create disproportionately large yields. Rainfall increases yields because it hydrologically connects areas otherwise isolated. Inorganic solute yields from late summer rainfall are higher because the thick active layer maximizes hydrologic interactions with mineral soils and generates high solute concentrations. Results also indicate that while the catchments are broadly similar, subtle topographic differences result in important inter‐catchment differences in runoff and suspended and dissolved loads. The East watershed, which had less extensive permafrost disturbance, consistently had higher concentrations of dissolved solids. These higher dissolved fluxes cannot therefore be explained by thermokarst features, but rather by deeper active layer development, due to a greater proportion of south‐facing slopes. Although warm temperatures in 2007 led to extensive active layer disturbance in the West watershed, because the disturbances were largely hydrologically disconnected, the total disturbed area was small, and inter‐annual variability in discharge was high, there was no detectable response in dissolved loads to disturbances. Sediment availability increased after 2007, but yields have largely returned to pre‐disturbance levels. Results indicate that ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lewis, Ted Lafrenière, Melissa J. Lamoureux, Scott F. |
spellingShingle |
Lewis, Ted Lafrenière, Melissa J. Lamoureux, Scott F. Hydrochemical and sedimentary responses of paired High Arctic watersheds to unusual climate and permafrost disturbance, Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Canada |
author_facet |
Lewis, Ted Lafrenière, Melissa J. Lamoureux, Scott F. |
author_sort |
Lewis, Ted |
title |
Hydrochemical and sedimentary responses of paired High Arctic watersheds to unusual climate and permafrost disturbance, Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Canada |
title_short |
Hydrochemical and sedimentary responses of paired High Arctic watersheds to unusual climate and permafrost disturbance, Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Canada |
title_full |
Hydrochemical and sedimentary responses of paired High Arctic watersheds to unusual climate and permafrost disturbance, Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Hydrochemical and sedimentary responses of paired High Arctic watersheds to unusual climate and permafrost disturbance, Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Hydrochemical and sedimentary responses of paired High Arctic watersheds to unusual climate and permafrost disturbance, Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Canada |
title_sort |
hydrochemical and sedimentary responses of paired high arctic watersheds to unusual climate and permafrost disturbance, cape bounty, melville island, canada |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hyp.8335 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fhyp.8335 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/hyp.8335 |
genre |
glacier* Nunavut permafrost Thermokarst Melville Island |
genre_facet |
glacier* Nunavut permafrost Thermokarst Melville Island |
op_source |
Hydrological Processes volume 26, issue 13, page 2003-2018 ISSN 0885-6087 1099-1085 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.8335 |
container_title |
Hydrological Processes |
container_volume |
26 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
2003 |
op_container_end_page |
2018 |
_version_ |
1810445369222365184 |