Assessing inter-annual and seasonal patterns of DOC and DOM quality across a complex alpine watershed underlain by discontinuous permafrost in Yukon, Canada
High-latitude environments store approximately half of the global organic carbon pool in peatlands, organic soils and permafrost, while large Arctic rivers convey an estimated 18–50 Tg C a −1 to the Arctic Ocean. Warming trends associated with climate change affect dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exp...
Published in: | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:cbbcbedc24e244698ce0ed2464f67ca0 2023-05-15T15:02:03+02:00 Assessing inter-annual and seasonal patterns of DOC and DOM quality across a complex alpine watershed underlain by discontinuous permafrost in Yukon, Canada N. J. Shatilla S. K. Carey 2019-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3571-2019 https://doaj.org/article/cbbcbedc24e244698ce0ed2464f67ca0 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/23/3571/2019/hess-23-3571-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1027-5606 https://doaj.org/toc/1607-7938 doi:10.5194/hess-23-3571-2019 1027-5606 1607-7938 https://doaj.org/article/cbbcbedc24e244698ce0ed2464f67ca0 Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol 23, Pp 3571-3591 (2019) Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3571-2019 2022-12-30T22:55:57Z High-latitude environments store approximately half of the global organic carbon pool in peatlands, organic soils and permafrost, while large Arctic rivers convey an estimated 18–50 Tg C a −1 to the Arctic Ocean. Warming trends associated with climate change affect dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export from terrestrial to riverine environments. However, there is limited consensus as to whether exports will increase or decrease due to complex interactions between climate, soils, vegetation, and associated production, mobilization and transport processes. A large body of research has focused on large river system DOC and dissolved organic matter (DOM) lability and observed trends conserved across years, whereas investigation at smaller watershed scales show that thermokarst and fire have a transient impact on hydrologically mediated solute transport. This study, located in the Wolf Creek Research Basin situated ∼20 km south of Whitehorse, YT, Canada, utilizes a nested design to assess seasonal and annual patterns of DOC and DOM composition across diverse landscape types (headwater, wetland and lake) and watershed scales. Peak DOC concentration and export occurred during freshet, as is the case in most northern watersheds; however, peaks were lower than a decade ago at the headwater site Granger Creek. DOM composition was most variable during freshet with high A254 and SUVA 254 and low FI and BIX. DOM composition was relatively insensitive to flow variation during summer and fall. The influence of increasing watershed scale and downstream mixing of landscape contributions was an overall dampening of DOC concentrations and optical indices with increasing groundwater contribution. Forecasted vegetation shifts, enhanced permafrost and seasonal thaw, earlier snowmelt, increased rainfall and other projected climate-driven changes will alter DOM sources and transport pathways. The results from this study support a projected shift from predominantly organic soils (high aromaticity and less fresh) to decomposing vegetation ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change permafrost Thermokarst Whitehorse Yukon Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Arctic Ocean Yukon Canada Granger Creek ENVELOPE(-123.303,-123.303,57.600,57.600) Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 23 9 3571 3591 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
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Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 N. J. Shatilla S. K. Carey Assessing inter-annual and seasonal patterns of DOC and DOM quality across a complex alpine watershed underlain by discontinuous permafrost in Yukon, Canada |
topic_facet |
Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
High-latitude environments store approximately half of the global organic carbon pool in peatlands, organic soils and permafrost, while large Arctic rivers convey an estimated 18–50 Tg C a −1 to the Arctic Ocean. Warming trends associated with climate change affect dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export from terrestrial to riverine environments. However, there is limited consensus as to whether exports will increase or decrease due to complex interactions between climate, soils, vegetation, and associated production, mobilization and transport processes. A large body of research has focused on large river system DOC and dissolved organic matter (DOM) lability and observed trends conserved across years, whereas investigation at smaller watershed scales show that thermokarst and fire have a transient impact on hydrologically mediated solute transport. This study, located in the Wolf Creek Research Basin situated ∼20 km south of Whitehorse, YT, Canada, utilizes a nested design to assess seasonal and annual patterns of DOC and DOM composition across diverse landscape types (headwater, wetland and lake) and watershed scales. Peak DOC concentration and export occurred during freshet, as is the case in most northern watersheds; however, peaks were lower than a decade ago at the headwater site Granger Creek. DOM composition was most variable during freshet with high A254 and SUVA 254 and low FI and BIX. DOM composition was relatively insensitive to flow variation during summer and fall. The influence of increasing watershed scale and downstream mixing of landscape contributions was an overall dampening of DOC concentrations and optical indices with increasing groundwater contribution. Forecasted vegetation shifts, enhanced permafrost and seasonal thaw, earlier snowmelt, increased rainfall and other projected climate-driven changes will alter DOM sources and transport pathways. The results from this study support a projected shift from predominantly organic soils (high aromaticity and less fresh) to decomposing vegetation ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
N. J. Shatilla S. K. Carey |
author_facet |
N. J. Shatilla S. K. Carey |
author_sort |
N. J. Shatilla |
title |
Assessing inter-annual and seasonal patterns of DOC and DOM quality across a complex alpine watershed underlain by discontinuous permafrost in Yukon, Canada |
title_short |
Assessing inter-annual and seasonal patterns of DOC and DOM quality across a complex alpine watershed underlain by discontinuous permafrost in Yukon, Canada |
title_full |
Assessing inter-annual and seasonal patterns of DOC and DOM quality across a complex alpine watershed underlain by discontinuous permafrost in Yukon, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Assessing inter-annual and seasonal patterns of DOC and DOM quality across a complex alpine watershed underlain by discontinuous permafrost in Yukon, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessing inter-annual and seasonal patterns of DOC and DOM quality across a complex alpine watershed underlain by discontinuous permafrost in Yukon, Canada |
title_sort |
assessing inter-annual and seasonal patterns of doc and dom quality across a complex alpine watershed underlain by discontinuous permafrost in yukon, canada |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3571-2019 https://doaj.org/article/cbbcbedc24e244698ce0ed2464f67ca0 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-123.303,-123.303,57.600,57.600) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Yukon Canada Granger Creek |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Yukon Canada Granger Creek |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change permafrost Thermokarst Whitehorse Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change permafrost Thermokarst Whitehorse Yukon |
op_source |
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol 23, Pp 3571-3591 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/23/3571/2019/hess-23-3571-2019.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1027-5606 https://doaj.org/toc/1607-7938 doi:10.5194/hess-23-3571-2019 1027-5606 1607-7938 https://doaj.org/article/cbbcbedc24e244698ce0ed2464f67ca0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3571-2019 |
container_title |
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
container_volume |
23 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
3571 |
op_container_end_page |
3591 |
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1766334040619614208 |