Seasonality of Solute Flux and Water Source Chemistry in a Coastal Glacierized Watershed Undergoing Rapid Change: Wolverine Glacier Watershed, Alaska
As glaciers around the world rapidly lose mass, the tight coupling between glaciers and downstream ecosystems is resulting in widespread impacts on global hydrologic and biogeochemical cycling. However, a range of challenges make it difficult to conduct research in glacierized systems, and our knowl...
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ftboisestateu:oai:scholarworks.boisestate.edu:geo_facpubs-1634 2023-10-29T02:36:28+01:00 Seasonality of Solute Flux and Water Source Chemistry in a Coastal Glacierized Watershed Undergoing Rapid Change: Wolverine Glacier Watershed, Alaska Bergstrom, Anna Koch, Joshua C. O'Neel, Shad Baker, Emily 2021-11-01T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/geo_facpubs/632 https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/context/geo_facpubs/article/1634/viewcontent/Bergstrom__Anna__2021__Seasonality_of_solute_flux___pub.pdf unknown ScholarWorks https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/geo_facpubs/632 https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/context/geo_facpubs/article/1634/viewcontent/Bergstrom__Anna__2021__Seasonality_of_solute_flux___pub.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations concentration-discharge relationships solute flux glacierized watersheds mixing model Earth Sciences Geophysics and Seismology text 2021 ftboisestateu 2023-09-29T15:22:50Z As glaciers around the world rapidly lose mass, the tight coupling between glaciers and downstream ecosystems is resulting in widespread impacts on global hydrologic and biogeochemical cycling. However, a range of challenges make it difficult to conduct research in glacierized systems, and our knowledge of seasonally changing hydrologic processes and solute sources and signatures is limited. This in turn hampers our ability to make predictions on solute composition and flux. We conducted a broad water sampling campaign in order to understand the present-day partitioning of water sources and associated solutes in Alaska's Wolverine Glacier watershed. We established a relationship between electrical conductivity and streamflow at the watershed outlet to divide the melt season into four hydroclimatic periods. Across hydroclimatic periods, we observed a shift in nonglacial source waters from snowmelt-dominated overland and shallow subsurface flow paths to deeper groundwater flow paths. We also observed the shift from a low- to high-efficiency subglacial drainage network and the associated flushing of water stored subglacially with higher solute loads. We used calcium, the dominant dissolved ion, from watershed outlet samples to estimate solute fluxes for each hydroclimatic period across two melt seasons. We found between 40% and 55% of Ca2+ export occurred during the late season rainy period. This partitioning of the melt season coupled with a characterization of the chemical makeup and magnitude of solute export provides new insight into a rapidly changing watershed and creates a framework to quantify and predict changes to solute fluxes across a melt season. Text glacier glaciers Alaska Boise State University: Scholar Works |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Boise State University: Scholar Works |
op_collection_id |
ftboisestateu |
language |
unknown |
topic |
concentration-discharge relationships solute flux glacierized watersheds mixing model Earth Sciences Geophysics and Seismology |
spellingShingle |
concentration-discharge relationships solute flux glacierized watersheds mixing model Earth Sciences Geophysics and Seismology Bergstrom, Anna Koch, Joshua C. O'Neel, Shad Baker, Emily Seasonality of Solute Flux and Water Source Chemistry in a Coastal Glacierized Watershed Undergoing Rapid Change: Wolverine Glacier Watershed, Alaska |
topic_facet |
concentration-discharge relationships solute flux glacierized watersheds mixing model Earth Sciences Geophysics and Seismology |
description |
As glaciers around the world rapidly lose mass, the tight coupling between glaciers and downstream ecosystems is resulting in widespread impacts on global hydrologic and biogeochemical cycling. However, a range of challenges make it difficult to conduct research in glacierized systems, and our knowledge of seasonally changing hydrologic processes and solute sources and signatures is limited. This in turn hampers our ability to make predictions on solute composition and flux. We conducted a broad water sampling campaign in order to understand the present-day partitioning of water sources and associated solutes in Alaska's Wolverine Glacier watershed. We established a relationship between electrical conductivity and streamflow at the watershed outlet to divide the melt season into four hydroclimatic periods. Across hydroclimatic periods, we observed a shift in nonglacial source waters from snowmelt-dominated overland and shallow subsurface flow paths to deeper groundwater flow paths. We also observed the shift from a low- to high-efficiency subglacial drainage network and the associated flushing of water stored subglacially with higher solute loads. We used calcium, the dominant dissolved ion, from watershed outlet samples to estimate solute fluxes for each hydroclimatic period across two melt seasons. We found between 40% and 55% of Ca2+ export occurred during the late season rainy period. This partitioning of the melt season coupled with a characterization of the chemical makeup and magnitude of solute export provides new insight into a rapidly changing watershed and creates a framework to quantify and predict changes to solute fluxes across a melt season. |
format |
Text |
author |
Bergstrom, Anna Koch, Joshua C. O'Neel, Shad Baker, Emily |
author_facet |
Bergstrom, Anna Koch, Joshua C. O'Neel, Shad Baker, Emily |
author_sort |
Bergstrom, Anna |
title |
Seasonality of Solute Flux and Water Source Chemistry in a Coastal Glacierized Watershed Undergoing Rapid Change: Wolverine Glacier Watershed, Alaska |
title_short |
Seasonality of Solute Flux and Water Source Chemistry in a Coastal Glacierized Watershed Undergoing Rapid Change: Wolverine Glacier Watershed, Alaska |
title_full |
Seasonality of Solute Flux and Water Source Chemistry in a Coastal Glacierized Watershed Undergoing Rapid Change: Wolverine Glacier Watershed, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Seasonality of Solute Flux and Water Source Chemistry in a Coastal Glacierized Watershed Undergoing Rapid Change: Wolverine Glacier Watershed, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonality of Solute Flux and Water Source Chemistry in a Coastal Glacierized Watershed Undergoing Rapid Change: Wolverine Glacier Watershed, Alaska |
title_sort |
seasonality of solute flux and water source chemistry in a coastal glacierized watershed undergoing rapid change: wolverine glacier watershed, alaska |
publisher |
ScholarWorks |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/geo_facpubs/632 https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/context/geo_facpubs/article/1634/viewcontent/Bergstrom__Anna__2021__Seasonality_of_solute_flux___pub.pdf |
genre |
glacier glaciers Alaska |
genre_facet |
glacier glaciers Alaska |
op_source |
Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations |
op_relation |
https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/geo_facpubs/632 https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/context/geo_facpubs/article/1634/viewcontent/Bergstrom__Anna__2021__Seasonality_of_solute_flux___pub.pdf |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
_version_ |
1781060423768866816 |