Comparative physical and chemical limnology of two Canadian High Arctic regions

• Main Authors: Dermot Antoniades, Marianne S V Douglas, John P Smol, S V Douglas
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Ellesmere Island; Mould Bay
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1049.6595; http://www.cen.ulaval.ca/warwickvincent/PDFfiles/Antoniades2003.pdf

Abstract: The physical and chemical limnological characteristics of 65 lakes and ponds from two areas in the Canadian High Arctic were examined to determine differences in regional limnology due to geological and vegetational characteristics, as well as other climate factors. Sites in the Alert region of northern Ellesmere Island had relatively low concentrations of total phosphorus (median TP = 9.1 mg l ). Mean total N and DOC were at the highest levels yet measured from any similar high arctic limnological survey, while mean TP was the second highest high arctic value yet recorded in our surveys. A principal components analysis of the Mould Bay data indicated that the two dominant gradients in the dataset were conductivity and related variables (l = 0.30) and nutrients (l = 0.19). The differences in water chemistry variables between Mould Bay and all previous high arctic surveys is attributable to the relatively dense vegetation and deep soils present at Mould Bay relative to Alert and other high arctic regions.