Patterns and persistence of hydrologic carbon and nutrient export from collapsing upland permafrost
As high latitudes warm, vast stocks of carbon and nitrogen stored in permafrost will become available for transport to aquatic ecosystems. While there is a growing understanding of the potential effects of permafrost collapse (thermokarst) on aquatic biogeochemical cycles, neither the spatial extent...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:14d46a76f500429a9feebdce2ec23cf7 2023-05-15T15:11:03+02:00 Patterns and persistence of hydrologic carbon and nutrient export from collapsing upland permafrost B. W. Abbott J. B. Jones S. E. Godsey J. R. Larouche W. B. Bowden 2015-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3725-2015 https://doaj.org/article/14d46a76f500429a9feebdce2ec23cf7 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.biogeosciences.net/12/3725/2015/bg-12-3725-2015.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 1726-4170 1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-12-3725-2015 https://doaj.org/article/14d46a76f500429a9feebdce2ec23cf7 Biogeosciences, Vol 12, Iss 12, Pp 3725-3740 (2015) Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3725-2015 2022-12-31T08:21:01Z As high latitudes warm, vast stocks of carbon and nitrogen stored in permafrost will become available for transport to aquatic ecosystems. While there is a growing understanding of the potential effects of permafrost collapse (thermokarst) on aquatic biogeochemical cycles, neither the spatial extent nor temporal duration of these effects is known. To test hypotheses concerning patterns and persistence of elemental export from upland thermokarst, we sampled hydrologic outflow from 83 thermokarst features in various stages of development across the North Slope of Alaska. We hypothesized that an initial pulse of carbon and nutrients would be followed by a period of elemental retention during feature recovery, and that the duration of these stages would depend on feature morphology. Thermokarst caused substantial increases in dissolved organic carbon and other solute concentrations with a particularly large impact on inorganic nitrogen. Magnitude and duration of thermokarst effects on water chemistry differed by feature type and secondarily by landscape age. Most solutes returned to undisturbed concentrations after feature stabilization, but elevated dissolved carbon, inorganic nitrogen, and sulfate concentrations persisted through stabilization for some feature types, suggesting that aquatic disturbance by thermokarst for these solutes is long-lived. Dissolved methane decreased by 90% for most feature types, potentially due to high concentrations of sulfate and inorganic nitrogen. Spatial patterns of carbon and nutrient export from thermokarst suggest that upland thermokarst may be a dominant linkage transferring carbon and nutrients from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems as the Arctic warms. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic north slope permafrost Thermokarst Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Biogeosciences 12 12 3725 3740 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 B. W. Abbott J. B. Jones S. E. Godsey J. R. Larouche W. B. Bowden Patterns and persistence of hydrologic carbon and nutrient export from collapsing upland permafrost |
topic_facet |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
As high latitudes warm, vast stocks of carbon and nitrogen stored in permafrost will become available for transport to aquatic ecosystems. While there is a growing understanding of the potential effects of permafrost collapse (thermokarst) on aquatic biogeochemical cycles, neither the spatial extent nor temporal duration of these effects is known. To test hypotheses concerning patterns and persistence of elemental export from upland thermokarst, we sampled hydrologic outflow from 83 thermokarst features in various stages of development across the North Slope of Alaska. We hypothesized that an initial pulse of carbon and nutrients would be followed by a period of elemental retention during feature recovery, and that the duration of these stages would depend on feature morphology. Thermokarst caused substantial increases in dissolved organic carbon and other solute concentrations with a particularly large impact on inorganic nitrogen. Magnitude and duration of thermokarst effects on water chemistry differed by feature type and secondarily by landscape age. Most solutes returned to undisturbed concentrations after feature stabilization, but elevated dissolved carbon, inorganic nitrogen, and sulfate concentrations persisted through stabilization for some feature types, suggesting that aquatic disturbance by thermokarst for these solutes is long-lived. Dissolved methane decreased by 90% for most feature types, potentially due to high concentrations of sulfate and inorganic nitrogen. Spatial patterns of carbon and nutrient export from thermokarst suggest that upland thermokarst may be a dominant linkage transferring carbon and nutrients from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems as the Arctic warms. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
B. W. Abbott J. B. Jones S. E. Godsey J. R. Larouche W. B. Bowden |
author_facet |
B. W. Abbott J. B. Jones S. E. Godsey J. R. Larouche W. B. Bowden |
author_sort |
B. W. Abbott |
title |
Patterns and persistence of hydrologic carbon and nutrient export from collapsing upland permafrost |
title_short |
Patterns and persistence of hydrologic carbon and nutrient export from collapsing upland permafrost |
title_full |
Patterns and persistence of hydrologic carbon and nutrient export from collapsing upland permafrost |
title_fullStr |
Patterns and persistence of hydrologic carbon and nutrient export from collapsing upland permafrost |
title_full_unstemmed |
Patterns and persistence of hydrologic carbon and nutrient export from collapsing upland permafrost |
title_sort |
patterns and persistence of hydrologic carbon and nutrient export from collapsing upland permafrost |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3725-2015 https://doaj.org/article/14d46a76f500429a9feebdce2ec23cf7 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic north slope permafrost Thermokarst Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic north slope permafrost Thermokarst Alaska |
op_source |
Biogeosciences, Vol 12, Iss 12, Pp 3725-3740 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://www.biogeosciences.net/12/3725/2015/bg-12-3725-2015.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 1726-4170 1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-12-3725-2015 https://doaj.org/article/14d46a76f500429a9feebdce2ec23cf7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3725-2015 |
container_title |
Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
3725 |
op_container_end_page |
3740 |
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1766341967790211072 |