Recent changes in nitrate and dissolved organic carbon export from the upper Kuparuk River, North Slope, Alaska

View/ Open
Date
2007-11-08Author
McClelland, James W.
Concept link
Stieglitz, Marc
Concept link
Pan, Feifei
Concept link
Holmes, Robert M.
Concept link
Peterson, Bruce J.
Concept link
Metadata
Show full item recordCitable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3661As published
https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JG000371DOI
10.1029/2006JG000371Abstract
Export of nitrate and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from the upper Kuparuk River between the late 1970s and early 2000s was evaluated using long-term ecological research (LTER) data in combination with solute flux and catchment hydrology models. The USGS Load Estimator (LOADEST) was used to calculate June–August export from 1978 forward. LOADEST was then coupled with a catchment-based land surface model (CLSM) to estimate total annual export from 1991 to 2001. Simulations using the LOADEST/CLSM combination indicate that annual nitrate export from the upper Kuparuk River increased by ~5 fold and annual DOC export decreased by about one half from 1991 to 2001. The decrease in DOC export was focused in May and was primarily attributed to a decrease in river discharge. In contrast, increased nitrate export was evident from May to September and was primarily attributed to increased nitrate concentrations. Increased nitrate concentrations are evident across a wide range of discharge conditions, indicating that higher values do not simply reflect lower discharge in recent years but a significant shift to higher concentration per unit discharge. Nitrate concentrations remained elevated after 2001. However, extraordinarily low discharge during June 2004 and June–August 2005 outweighed the influence of higher concentrations in determining export during these years. The mechanism responsible for the recent increase in nitrate concentrations is uncertain but may relate to changes in soils and vegetation associated with regional warming. While changes in nitrate and DOC export from arctic rivers reflect changes in terrestrial ecosystems, they also have significant implications for Arctic Ocean ecosystems.
Description
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (2007): G04S60, doi:10.1029/2006JG000371.
Collections
Suggested Citation
Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (2007): G04S60Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Continuous culture studies of possible climate change effects: Thalassiosira pseudonana CCMP1335 growth in nitrate-limited and nutrient-replete cultures
Laws, Edward; Passow, Uta (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2020-09-30)The marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana clone CCMP 1335 was grown in a continuous culture system on a 14:10 light-dark cycle under either nitrate-limited or nutrient-replete conditions, a photoperiod irradiance of either ... -
Continuous culture studies of possible climate change effects: Synechococcus elongatus CCMP1629 growth in nitrate-limited and nutrient-replete cultures
Laws, Edward; Passow, Uta (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2020-09-30)The marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus clone CCMP1629 was grown in a continuous culture system on a 14:10 light-dark cycle under either nitrate-limited or nutrient-replete conditions, a photoperiod irradiance ... -
Paleoreconstruction of organic carbon inputs to an oxbow lake in the Mississippi River watershed : effects of dam construction and land use change on regional inputs
Bianchi, Thomas S.; Galy, Valier; Rosenheim, Brad E.; Shields, Michael; Cui, Xingqian; Van Metre, Peter (John Wiley & Sons, 2015-10-10)We use a dated sediment core from Lake Whittington (USA) in the lower Mississippi River to reconstruct linkages in the carbon cycling and fluvial sediment dynamics over the past 80 years. Organic carbon (OC) sources were ...