Dissolved organic matter in Arctic watersheds and coastal waters

• Main Author: Connolly, Craig Thomas
• Other Authors: McClelland, James W., Dunton, Kenneth H, Liu, Zhanfei, Spencer, Robert G.M
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Arctic; Dissolved organic matter; Watersheds; Groundwater; Coastal waters; Climate change; Beaufort Sea; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2152/81197; https://doi.org/10.26153/tsw/8210

Arctic warming is already affecting the movement of freshwater and dissolved organic matter (DOM) from watersheds to the coastal ocean in the Arctic. Improved understanding of DOM in freshwater sources and linkages to DOM characteristics in Arctic coastal waters is needed to assess responses to and feedbacks with climate change. This work focuses on DOM characteristics that couple watershed and coastal systems in the Arctic, with specific considerations of river and groundwater inputs to lagoon ecosystems along the eastern Alaska Beaufort Sea coast. We found that spring and summer river-borne concentrations of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen (DOC and DON) are strongly linked to variations in watershed slope and soil organic matter coverage across space and scale in the Arctic. The quantities and composition of DOM in lagoons of the eastern Alaska Beaufort Sea coast vary markedly between seasons. Specifically, lagoons experience a shift from high to low DOC and DON concentrations between the late spring sea ice break-up and winter ice-covered periods, but these concentrations are more variable during the summer open water period. Distinct seasonal transitions in ice coverage, runoff from land, and water exchange with the Beaufort Sea strongly influence the availability of lagoon DOM. During the summer, concentrations of DOC and DON in supra-permafrost groundwater (SPGW) inputs to lagoons are much higher than those found in local rivers and lagoons. Late-summer fluxes of SPGW DOM to the northern Alaska coastline are substantial and may be the principal source of DOM to lagoons without river inputs. This SPGW DOM is sourced from readily leachable organic matter in surface soils and deeper soil horizons that likely extend into thawing permafrost. SPGW DOM contains aromatic carbon compounds that are largely resistant to microbial degradation on the order of days to months. While nearby river and lagoon water DOM has a similar composition and degradability, SPGW contains a portion of bioavailable and reactive ...