Siberian Lena River hydrologic regime and recent change

Abstract

The long‐term (1935–1999) monthly records of temperature, precipitation, stream flow, river ice thickness, and active layer depth have been analyzed in this study to examine Lena River hydrologic regime and recent change. Remarkable hydrologic changes have been identified in this study. During the cold season (October–April), significant increases (25–90%) in stream flow and decrease in river ice thickness have been found due to warming in Siberia. In the snowmelt period (May–June), strong warming in spring leads to an advance of snowmelt season into late May and results in a lower daily maximum discharge in June. During summer months (July–September) the changes in stream flow hydrology are less significant in comparison to those for winter and spring seasons. A slight stream flow increase is discovered for both July and August, mainly owing to precipitation increase in May and June. Discharge in September has a slight downward trend due to precipitation decrease and temperature increase in August. The magnitudes of changes in stream flow and river ice thickness identified in this study are large enough to alter the hydrologic regime. Investigation into the hydrologic response of the Lena River to climate change and variation reveals strong linkages of stream flow with temperature and precipitation. We therefore believe that Lena River hydrologic regime changes are mainly the consequence of recent climate warming over Siberia and also closely related to changes in permafrost condition.

Precipitation characteristics of the Eurasian Arctic drainage system

“…However, as averaged for the large Arcticdraining watersheds, AO relationships with monthly precipitation and vapour flux convergence are not strong (Serreze et al, 2003). Nevertheless, although there appears to be a link between the AO/NAO and increased Siberian river discharge, as noted by Peterson et al (2002), the extent to which this directly relates to changes in precipitation versus other factors associated with recent high-latitude warming -such as increased groundwater flow to rivers, associated with deeper soil active layers and warming and melting of permafrost (Yang et al, 2002;Serreze et al, 2003) -remains to be determined.…”

Resistance and Resilience of A Stream Salamander To Supraseasonal Drought

“…Changes in the magnitude of winter discharge on major Arctic rivers have also been observed and linked to increased warming and winter precipitation in the case of the Lena River (Yang et al, 2002;Berezovskaya et al, 2005) but, although also previously thought to be climate-induced, simply to hydro-electric regulation on the Ob and Yenisei Rivers (Yang et al, 2004a, b). Changes have also occurred in the timing of the spring freshet, the dominant flow event on Arctic rivers, but these have not been spatially consistent over the last 60 years, with adjacent Siberian rivers showing both advancing (Lena: Yang et al, 2002) and delaying (Yenisei: Yang et al, 2004b) trends. Floating freshwater ice also controls the seasonal dynamics of Arctic rivers and lakes, particularly flooding regimes, and although there has been no reported change in ice-induced flood frequency or magnitude, ice-cover duration has decreased in much of the sub-Arctic (Walsh et al, 2005).…”

Transient modeling of the ground thermal conditions using satellite data in the Lena River delta, Siberia

“…However, relatively shallow thermokarst lakes dominate in the LRD, which at least partly freeze to the bottom in winter (Schwamborn et al, 2002a;Antonova et al, 2016), so microwave emission becomes similar to land areas, although in particular the wavelength dependency of the effect may be complex (Gunn et al, 2011). Furthermore, the winter discharge of the Lena River is very low compared to other northern rivers, as the catchment is largely located in the continuous permafrost zone (Yang et al, 2002). We estimate the winter discharge to be only about 10 % of summer averages ( Fig.…”