Seasonal TOC export from seven boreal catchments in northern Sweden

Laudon, Hjalmar; Köhler, Stephan Jürgen; Buffam, Ishi

doi:10.1007/s00027-004-0700-2

Cited by 267 publications

(291 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The reverse is true for stream water DOC concentration, which increases during the snowmelt when shallower groundwater flow pathways dominate (Lyon et al, 2010a). Such shifts are commonly observed in watersheds with seasonal snowpacks in arctic (Carey 2003), alpine (Hood et al, 2005) and boreal streams (Laudon et al, 2004) and our data are in line with these results. The extent and distribution of permafrost is typically seen to influence stream water DOC fluxes.…”

Section: Seasonal Patterns In Stream Water Doc and Dicsupporting

confidence: 89%

Catchment-scale dissolved carbon concentrations and export estimates across six subarctic streams in northern Sweden

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Climatic change is currently enhancing permafrost thawing and the flow of water through the landscape in subarctic and arctic catchments, with major consequences for the carbon export to aquatic ecosystems. We studied stream water carbon export in several tundra-dominated catchments in northern Sweden. There were clear seasonal differences in both dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations. The highest DOC concentrations occurred during the spring freshet while the highest DIC concentrations were always observed during winter baseflow conditions for the six catchments considered in this study. Long-term trends for the period 1982 to 2010 for one of the streams showed that DIC concentrations has increased by 9 % during the 28 yr of measurement while no clear trend was found for DOC. Similar increasing trends were also found for conductivity, Ca and Mg. When trends were discretized into individual months, we found a significant linear increase in DIC concentrations with time for September, November and December. In these subarctic catchments, the annual mass of C exported as DIC was in the same order of magnitude as DOC; the average proportion of DIC to the total dissolved C exported was 61 % for the six streams. Furthermore, there was a direct relationship between total runoff and annual dissolved carbon fluxes for these six catchments. These relationships were more prevalent for annual DIC exports than annual DOC exports in this region. Our results also highlight that both DOC and DIC can be important in highlatitude ecosystems. This is particularly relevant in environments where thawing permafrost and changes to subsurface ice due to global warming can influence stream water fluxes of C. The large proportion of stream water DIC flux also has implications on regional C budgets and needs to be considered in order to understand climate-induced feedback mechanisms across the landscape.

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Section: Seasonal Patterns In Stream Water Doc and Dicsupporting

confidence: 89%

Catchment-scale dissolved carbon concentrations and export estimates across six subarctic streams in northern Sweden

et al. 2014

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“…The range of riparian soil water TOC concentrations (from 1 mg l −1 to 97 mg l −1 , Table 1) measured in this study was almost twice as wide as the range of stream TOC concentrations at Krycklan and other boreal Swedish catchments (Laudon et al, 2004a;Temnerud and Bishop, 2005). The dominant sources of stream TOC in Krycklan are organic riparian soils, together with headwater wetlands, and not the TOC mobilized from podsols at hillslopes draining into the RZ (Bishop et al, 1990;.…”

Section: Hydrometric Observations and Soil Water Toc Concentrationsmentioning

confidence: 54%

Riparian zone hydrology and soil water total organic carbon (TOC): implications for spatial variability and upscaling of lateral riparian TOC exports

et al. 2012

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Abstract. Groundwater flowing from hillslopes through riparian (near-stream) soils often undergoes chemical transformations that can substantially influence stream water chemistry. We used landscape analysis to predict total organic carbon (TOC) concentration profiles and groundwater levels measured in the riparian zone (RZ) of a 67 km 2 catchment in Sweden. TOC exported laterally from 13 riparian soil profiles was then estimated based on the riparian flow-concentration integration model (RIM). Much of the observed spatial variability of riparian TOC concentrations in this system could be predicted from groundwater levels and the topographic wetness index (TWI). Organic riparian peat soils in forested areas emerged as hotspots exporting large amounts of TOC. These TOC fluxes were subject to considerable temporal variations caused by a combination of variable flow conditions and changing soil water TOC concentrations. Mineral riparian gley soils, on the other hand, were related to rather small TOC export rates and were characterized by relatively time-invariant TOC concentration profiles. Organic and mineral soils in RZs constitute a heterogeneous landscape mosaic that potentially controls much of the spatial variability of stream water TOC. We developed an empirical regression model based on the TWI to move beyond the plot scale and to predict spatially variable riparian TOC concentration profiles for RZs underlain by glacial till.

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“…Looking over the whole of Sweden, Humborg et al (2010) estimated that organic carbon comprised the majority of the carbon flux from the terrestrial environment to the aquatic system. For example, boreal landscapes tend to have a direct connection with wetlands rich in organic matter and large amounts of DOC in stream systems (Kortelainen, 1993;Laudon et al, 2004). For example, in the well studied Krycklan catchments (located about 600 km southeast of the Abiskojokken catchment), DOC comprises about 81% of the total dissolved carbon export while DIC makes up 19% (Wallin et al, 2010).…”

Section: Carbon Flux In Relation To Flow Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between subsurface hydrology and dissolved carbon fluxes for a sub-arctic catchment

Lyon

Mörth

Humborg

et al. 2010

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. In recent years, there has been increased interest in carbon cycling in natural systems due to its role in a changing climate. Northern latitude systems are especially important as they may serve as a potentially large source or sink of terrestrial carbon. There are, however, a limited number of investigations reporting on actual flux rates of carbon moving from the subsurface landscape to surface water systems in northern latitudes. In this study, we determined dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) fluxes from the subsurface landscape for a sub-arctic catchment located in northern Sweden. These are based on observed annual flux-averaged concentrations of DOC and DIC for the 566 km 2 Abiskojokken catchment. We demonstrate the importance to correctly represent the spatial distribution of the advective solute travel times along the various flow and transport pathways. The fluxes of DOC and DIC from the subsurface landscape to the surface water system were comparable in magnitude. This balance could shift under future climatic changes that influence the hydrological and biogeochemical system.

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Seasonal TOC export from seven boreal catchments in northern Sweden

Cited by 267 publications

References 36 publications

Catchment-scale dissolved carbon concentrations and export estimates across six subarctic streams in northern Sweden

Catchment-scale dissolved carbon concentrations and export estimates across six subarctic streams in northern Sweden

Riparian zone hydrology and soil water total organic carbon (TOC): implications for spatial variability and upscaling of lateral riparian TOC exports

The relationship between subsurface hydrology and dissolved carbon fluxes for a sub-arctic catchment

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