Controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex
Permafrost peatlands are vulnerable to rapid structural changes under climatic warming, including vertical collapse. Peatland water budgets, and therefore peat hydraulic properties, are important determinants of vegetation and carbon fluxes. Measurements of hydraulic properties exist for only a limi...
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2023
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ftqueensubelpubl:oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:publications/e043a400-ea50-417b-b519-cc2e3ad6ac68 2024-05-19T07:46:52+00:00 Controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex Fewster, Richard E. Morris, Paul J. Swindles, Graeme T. Baird, Andy J. Turner, T. Edward Ivanovic, Ruza F. 2023-10-18 application/pdf https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/e043a400-ea50-417b-b519-cc2e3ad6ac68 https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr035398 https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/files/527115959/2023WR035398.pdf eng eng https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/e043a400-ea50-417b-b519-cc2e3ad6ac68 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Fewster , R E , Morris , P J , Swindles , G T , Baird , A J , Turner , T E & Ivanovic , R F 2023 , ' Controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex ' , Water Resources Research , vol. 59 , no. 10 , e2023WR035398 . https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr035398 , https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035398 pedotransfer function hydraulic conductivity von post score palsa peat permafrost /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action name=SDG 13 - Climate Action article 2023 ftqueensubelpubl https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr03539810.1029/2023WR035398 2024-05-02T00:51:52Z Permafrost peatlands are vulnerable to rapid structural changes under climatic warming, including vertical collapse. Peatland water budgets, and therefore peat hydraulic properties, are important determinants of vegetation and carbon fluxes. Measurements of hydraulic properties exist for only a limited number of permafrost peatland locations, primarily concentrated in North America. The impacts of thaw‐induced collapse upon properties such as horizontal saturated hydraulic conductivity (K h ), and thus lateral drainage, remain poorly understood. We made laboratory determinations of K h from 82 peat samples from a degrading Swedish palsa mire. We fitted a linear mixed‐effects model (LMM) to establish the controls on K h , which declined strongly with increasing depth, humification and dry bulk density. Depth exerted the strongest control on K h in our LMM, which demonstrated strong predictive performance (r2 = 0.605). Humification and dry bulk density were influential predictors, but the high collinearity of these two variables meant only one could be included reliably in our LMM. Surprisingly, peat K h did not differ significantly between desiccating and collapsed palsas. We compared our site‐specific LMM to an existing, multi‐site model, fitted primarily to boreal and temperate peatlands. The multi‐site model made less skillful predictions (r2 = 0.528) than our site‐specific model, possibly due to latitudinal differences in peat compaction, floristic composition and climate. Nonetheless, low bias means the multi‐site model may still be useful for estimating peat K h at high latitudes. Permafrost peatlands remain underrepresented in multi‐site models of peat hydraulic properties, and measurements such as ours could be used to improve future iterations. Article in Journal/Newspaper palsa palsas permafrost Queen's University Belfast Research Portal Water Resources Research 59 10 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Queen's University Belfast Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftqueensubelpubl |
language |
English |
topic |
pedotransfer function hydraulic conductivity von post score palsa peat permafrost /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action name=SDG 13 - Climate Action |
spellingShingle |
pedotransfer function hydraulic conductivity von post score palsa peat permafrost /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action name=SDG 13 - Climate Action Fewster, Richard E. Morris, Paul J. Swindles, Graeme T. Baird, Andy J. Turner, T. Edward Ivanovic, Ruza F. Controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex |
topic_facet |
pedotransfer function hydraulic conductivity von post score palsa peat permafrost /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action name=SDG 13 - Climate Action |
description |
Permafrost peatlands are vulnerable to rapid structural changes under climatic warming, including vertical collapse. Peatland water budgets, and therefore peat hydraulic properties, are important determinants of vegetation and carbon fluxes. Measurements of hydraulic properties exist for only a limited number of permafrost peatland locations, primarily concentrated in North America. The impacts of thaw‐induced collapse upon properties such as horizontal saturated hydraulic conductivity (K h ), and thus lateral drainage, remain poorly understood. We made laboratory determinations of K h from 82 peat samples from a degrading Swedish palsa mire. We fitted a linear mixed‐effects model (LMM) to establish the controls on K h , which declined strongly with increasing depth, humification and dry bulk density. Depth exerted the strongest control on K h in our LMM, which demonstrated strong predictive performance (r2 = 0.605). Humification and dry bulk density were influential predictors, but the high collinearity of these two variables meant only one could be included reliably in our LMM. Surprisingly, peat K h did not differ significantly between desiccating and collapsed palsas. We compared our site‐specific LMM to an existing, multi‐site model, fitted primarily to boreal and temperate peatlands. The multi‐site model made less skillful predictions (r2 = 0.528) than our site‐specific model, possibly due to latitudinal differences in peat compaction, floristic composition and climate. Nonetheless, low bias means the multi‐site model may still be useful for estimating peat K h at high latitudes. Permafrost peatlands remain underrepresented in multi‐site models of peat hydraulic properties, and measurements such as ours could be used to improve future iterations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fewster, Richard E. Morris, Paul J. Swindles, Graeme T. Baird, Andy J. Turner, T. Edward Ivanovic, Ruza F. |
author_facet |
Fewster, Richard E. Morris, Paul J. Swindles, Graeme T. Baird, Andy J. Turner, T. Edward Ivanovic, Ruza F. |
author_sort |
Fewster, Richard E. |
title |
Controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex |
title_short |
Controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex |
title_full |
Controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex |
title_fullStr |
Controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex |
title_full_unstemmed |
Controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex |
title_sort |
controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/e043a400-ea50-417b-b519-cc2e3ad6ac68 https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr035398 https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/files/527115959/2023WR035398.pdf |
genre |
palsa palsas permafrost |
genre_facet |
palsa palsas permafrost |
op_source |
Fewster , R E , Morris , P J , Swindles , G T , Baird , A J , Turner , T E & Ivanovic , R F 2023 , ' Controls on saturated hydraulic conductivity in a degrading permafrost peatland complex ' , Water Resources Research , vol. 59 , no. 10 , e2023WR035398 . https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr035398 , https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035398 |
op_relation |
https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/e043a400-ea50-417b-b519-cc2e3ad6ac68 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr03539810.1029/2023WR035398 |
container_title |
Water Resources Research |
container_volume |
59 |
container_issue |
10 |
_version_ |
1799487113818800128 |