Functional Lake-to-Channel Connectivity Impacts Lake Ice in the Colville Delta, Alaska ...

• Main Authors: Yang, X., Pavelsky, T.M., Dolan, W.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley and Sons Inc 2021
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17615/mscy-2v36; https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/articles/mg74qw677

Within Arctic deltas, surficial hydrologic connectivity of lakes to nearby river channels influences physical processes like sediment transport and ice phenology as well as biogeochemical processes such as photochemistry. As the Arctic hydrologic cycle is impacted by climate change, it is important to quantify temporal variability in connectivity. However, current connectivity detection methods are either spatially limited due to data availability constraints or have been applied at only a single time. Additionally, the relationship between connectivity and lake ice is still poorly quantified. In this study, we present a multitemporal classification of functional lake connectivity in the Colville River Delta, Alaska. We introduce a connectivity detection algorithm based on remote sensing of high sediment river water recharge that is expandable to other high sediment Arctic deltas. We compare results to three existing data sets, producing 64.4%, 75.8%, and 85.2% lake classification accuracy. Mismatches ...