Particulate Organic Matter Dynamics in a Permafrost Headwater Stream and the Kolyma River Mainstem ...

• Main Authors: Bröder, Lisa, Davydova, Anya, Davydov, Sergey, Zimov, Nikita, Haghipour, Negar, Eglinton, Timothy I., Vonk, Jorien
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2020
• Subjects: particulate organic carbon; permafrost; Kolyma; carbon isotopes; lipid biomarkers; Arctic; Ice; kolyma river; Thermokarst; Siberia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000403804; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/403804

Ongoing rapid arctic warming leads to extensive permafrost thaw, which in turn increases the hydrologic connectivity of the landscape by opening up subsurface flow paths. Suspended particulate organic matter (POM) has proven useful to trace permafrost thaw signals in arctic rivers, which may experience higher organic matter loads in the future due to expansion and increasing intensity of thaw processes such as thermokarst and river bank erosion. Here we focus on the Kolyma River watershed in Northeast Siberia, the world's largest watershed entirely underlain by continuous permafrost. To evaluate and characterize the present‐day fluvial release of POM from permafrost thaw, we collected water samples every 4–7 days during the 4‐month open water season in 2013 and 2015 from the lower Kolyma River mainstem and from a small nearby headwater stream (Y3) draining an area completely underlain by Yedoma permafrost (Pleistocene ice‐ and organic‐rich deposits). Concentrations of particulate organic carbon generally ... : Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 125 (2) ...