Search

Landscapes are often assumed to be homogeneous when interpreting eddy covariance fluxes, which can lead to biases when gap-filling and scaling up observations to determine regional carbon budgets. Tundra ecosystems are heterogeneous at multiple scales. Plant functional types, soil moisture, thaw depth, and microtopography, for example, vary across the landscape and influence net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes. With warming temperatures, Arctic ecosystems are changing from a net sink to a net source of carbon to the atmosphere in some locations, but the Arctic's carbon balance remains highly uncertain. In this study we report results from growing season NEE and CH4 fluxes from an eddy covariance tower in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska. We used footprint models and Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to unmix eddy covariance observations into constituent land-cover fluxes based on high-resolution land-cover maps of the region. We compared three types of footprint models and used two land-cover maps with varying complexity to determine the effects of these choices on derived ecosystem fluxes. We used artificially created gaps of withheld observations to compare gap-filling performance using our derived land-cover-specific fluxes and traditional gap-filling methods that assume homogeneous landscapes. We also compared resulting regional carbon budgets when scaling up observations using heterogeneous and homogeneous approaches. Traditional gap-filling methods performed worse at predicting artificially withheld gaps in NEE than those that accounted for heterogeneous landscapes, while there were only slight differences between footprint models and land-cover maps. We identified and quantified hot spots of carbon fluxes in the landscape (e.g., late growing season emissions from wetlands and small ponds). We resolved distinct seasonality in tundra growing season NEE fluxes. Scaling while assuming a homogeneous landscape overestimated the growing season CO2 sink by a factor of 2 and underestimated CH4 emissions by a factor of 2 when compared to scaling with any method that accounts for landscape heterogeneity. We show how Bayesian MCMC, analytical footprint models, and high-resolution land-cover maps can be leveraged to derive detailed land-cover carbon fluxes from eddy covariance time series. These results demonstrate the importance of landscape heterogeneity when scaling carbon emissions across the Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic is experiencing rapid climate change, and the effect on hydrologic processes and resulting geomorphic changes to hillslopes and channels is unclear because we lack quantitative models and theory for rapid changes resulting from thawing permafrost. The presence of permafrost modulates water flow and the stability of soil‐mantled slopes, implying that there should be a signature of permafrost processes, including warming‐driven disturbance, in channel network extent. To inform understanding of hillslope‐channel dynamics under changing climates, we examined soil‐mantled hillslopes within a ∼300 km2 area of the Seward Peninsula, western Alaska, where discontinuous permafrost is particularly susceptible to thaw and rapid landscape change. In this study, we pair high‐resolution topographic and satellite data to multi‐annual observations of InSAR‐derived surface displacement over a 5‐year period to quantify spatial variations in topographic change across an upland landscape. We find that neither the basin slope nor the presence of knickzones controls the magnitude of recent surface displacements within the study basin, as may be expected under conceptual models of temperate hillslope evolution. Rather, the highest displacement magnitudes tended to occur at the broad hillslope‐channel transition zone. In this study area, this zone is occupied by water tracks, which are zero‐order ecogeomorphic features that concentrate surface and subsurface flow paths. Our results suggest that water tracks, which appear to occupy hillslope positions between saturation and incision thresholds, are vulnerable to warming‐induced subsidence and incision. We hypothesize that gullying within water tracks will outpace infilling by hillslope processes, resulting in the growth of the channel network under future warming. Plain Language Summary: Climate and ecology can shape hillslopes and the extent of river networks by controlling how much water is available for erosion. These forces also control whether water can erode soil if it is strengthened by ice or roots. The permeability and stability of permafrost hillslopes change with seasonal and long‐term warming due to frozen ground's impermeability and resistance to erosion. This link between temperature and erosion in permafrost landscapes is thus more direct than most geomorphic models developed at lower latitudes presume. We related the locations of satellite topographic change to the geomorphic processes that dominate that part of the landscape based on the shape of the hillslopes and valleys. This allows us to determine whether the pattern of disturbance across the landscape is related to geomorphic variables such as slope or climate‐modulated variables such as soil saturation. Topographic change primarily occurs in saturated areas at the tips of the river network. At these locations, features called "water tracks" form the transition between hillslopes and river valleys. Changes in climate and vegetation in permafrost landscapes are potentially driving water tracks to transition into true channels, expanding the channel network. Key Points: Seasonal and long‐term permafrost thaw change hillslope hydrology and erodibilitySatellites observe surface displacements concentrated at the transition between hillslopes and channelsA conceptual model is proposed for hillslope‐channel transitions in permafrost landscapes mediated by water tracks [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil pore water (SPW) chemistry can vary substantially across multiple scales in Arctic permafrost landscapes. The magnitude of these variations and their relationship to scale are critical considerations for understanding current controls on geochemical cycling and for predicting future changes. These aspects are especially important for Arctic change modeling where accurate representation of sub-grid variability may be necessary to predict watershed-scale behaviors. Our research goal is to characterize intra- and inter-watershed soil water geochemical variations at two contrasting locations in the Seward Peninsula of Alaska, USA. We then attempt to identify the key factors controlling concentrations of important pore water solutes in these systems. The SPW geochemistry of 18 locations spanning two small Arctic catchments was examined for spatial variability and its dominant environmental controls. The primary environmental controls considered were vegetation, soil moisture and/or redox condition, water–soil interactions and hydrologic transport, and mineral solubility. The sampling locations varied in terms of vegetation type and canopy height, presence or absence of near-surface permafrost, soil moisture, and hillslope position. Vegetation was found to have a significant impact on SPW NO 3- concentrations, associated with the localized presence of nitrogen-fixing alders and mineralization and nitrification of leaf litter from tall willow shrubs. The elevated NO 3- concentrations were, however, frequently equipoised by increased microbial denitrification in regions with sufficient moisture to support it. Vegetation also had an observable impact on soil-moisture-sensitive constituents, but the effect was less significant. The redox conditions in both catchments were generally limited by Fe reduction, seemingly well-buffered by a cache of amorphous Fe hydroxides, with the most reducing conditions found at sampling locations with the highest soil moisture content. Non-redox-sensitive cations were affected by a wide variety of water–soil interactions that affect mineral solubility and transport. Identification of the dominant controls on current SPW hydrogeochemistry allows for qualitative prediction of future geochemical trends in small Arctic catchments that are likely to experience warming and permafrost thaw. As source areas for geochemical fluxes to the broader Arctic hydrologic system, geochemical processes occurring in these environments are particularly important to understand and predict with regards to such environmental changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landscapes are often assumed to be homogeneous when interpreting eddy covariance fluxes, which can lead to biases when gap-filling and scaling-up observations to determine regional carbon budgets. Tundra ecosystems are heterogeneous at multiple scales, with variation in plant functional types, soil moisture, thaw depth, and microtopography, for example, influencing net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes. With warming temperatures, Arctic ecosystems could change from a net sink to a net source of carbon to the atmosphere in some locations, but the carbon balance remains highly uncertain. In this study we report results from growing season NEE and CH4 fluxes from an eddy covariance tower in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska. We used footprint models and Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to un-mix tower observations into constituent landcover fluxes based on high resolution landcover maps of the tower region. We compared three types of footprint models and used two landcover maps with varying complexity to determine the effects of these choices on derived ecosystem fluxes. We used artificially created gaps of withheld observations to compare gap-filling performance using our derived landcover-specific fluxes and traditional gap-filling methods that assume homogeneous landscapes. We also compared resulting regional carbon budgets when scaling-up observations using heterogeneous and homogeneous approaches. Traditional gap-filling methods performed worse at predicting artificially withheld gaps in NEE than those that accounted for heterogeneous landscapes, while there were only slight differences between footprint models and landcover maps. We identified and quantified hot spots of carbon fluxes in the landscape (e.g., late growing season emissions from wetlands and small ponds). We resolved distinct seasonality in tundra growing season NEE fluxes. Scaling while assuming a homogeneous landscape overestimated the growing season CO2 sink by a factor of two and underestimated CH4 emissions by a factor of two when compared to scaling with any method that accounts for landscape heterogeneity. We show how Bayesian MCMC, analytical footprint models, and high resolution landcover maps can be leveraged to derive detailed landcover carbon fluxes from eddy covariance timeseries. These results demonstrate the importance of landscape heterogeneity when scaling carbon emissions across the Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is creating widespread ecosystem disturbance across the permafrost zone, including a rapid increase in the extent and severity of tundra wildfire. The expansion of this previously rare disturbance has unknown consequences for lateral nutrient flux from terrestrial to aquatic environments. Lateral loss of nutrients could reduce carbon uptake and slow recovery of already nutrient-limited tundra ecosystems. To investigate the effects of tundra wildfire on lateral nutrient export, we analyzed water chemistry in and around the 10-year-old  Anaktuvuk River fire scar in northern Alaska. We collected water samples from 21 burned and 21 unburned watersheds during snowmelt, at peak growing season, and after plant senescence in 2017 and 2018. After a decade of ecosystem recovery, aboveground biomass had recovered in burned watersheds, but overall carbon and nitrogen remained ~20% lower, and the active layer remained ~10% deeper. Despite lower organic matter stocks, dissolved organic nutrients were substantially elevated in burned watersheds, with higher flow-weighted concentrations of organic carbon (25% higher), organic nitrogen (59% higher), organic phosphorus (65% higher), and organic sulfur (47% higher). Geochemical proxies indicated greater interaction with mineral soils in watersheds with surface subsidence, but optical analysis and isotopes suggested that recent plant growth, not mineral soil, was the main source of organic nutrients in burned watersheds. Burned and unburned watersheds had similar δ 15 N-NO 3 - , indicating that exported nitrogen was of preburn origin (i.e., not recently fixed). Lateral nitrogen flux from burned watersheds was 2- to 10-fold higher than rates of background nitrogen fixation and atmospheric deposition estimated in this area. These findings indicate that wildfire in Arctic tundra can destabilize nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur previously stored in permafrost via plant uptake and leaching. This plant-mediated nutrient loss could exacerbate terrestrial nutrient limitation after disturbance or serve as an important nutrient release mechanism during succession., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Whether permafrost systematically alters the rate of riverbank erosion is a fundamental geomorphic question with significant importance to infrastructure, water quality, and biogeochemistry of high‐latitude watersheds. For over four decades, this question has remained unanswered due to a lack of data. Using remotely sensed imagery, we addressed this knowledge gap by quantifying riverbank erosion rates across the Arctic and subarctic. To compare these rates to non‐permafrost rivers, we assembled a global data set of published riverbank erosion rates. We found that erosion rates in rivers influenced by permafrost are on average nine times lower than non‐permafrost systems; erosion rate differences increase up to 40 times for the largest rivers. To test alternative hypotheses for the observed erosion rate difference, we examined differences in total water yield and erosional efficiency between these rivers and non‐permafrost rivers. Neither of these factors nor differences in river sediment loads provided compelling alternative explanations, leading us to conclude that permafrost limits riverbank erosion rates. This conclusion was supported by field investigations of rates and patterns of erosion along three rivers flowing through discontinuous permafrost in Alaska. Our results show that permafrost limits maximum bank erosion rates on rivers with stream powers greater than 900 Wm−1. On smaller rivers, however, hydrology rather than thaw rate may be the dominant control on bank erosion. Our findings suggest that Arctic warming and hydrological changes should increase bank erosion rates on large rivers but may reduce rates on rivers with drainage areas less than a few thousand km2. Plain Language Summary: The rate rivers erode their banks controls the pace of migration and the impacts on neighboring communities and ecosystems. Erosion of floodplains releases sediment, carbon, and other constituents into rivers affecting the biogeochemistry of rivers and ultimately the coastal oceans into which rivers flow. Across the Arctic, rivers erode through floodplains frozen continuously for more than 2 years (permafrost). Before ice‐bounded sediments can be eroded by flowing water, they must be thawed. Using aerial photographs, satellite imagery, and direct field observations, we found that permafrost slows the rate rivers erode their banks relative to rivers without permafrost. The effect of permafrost, however, varies with the size of the river and the erosion rates of large rivers are disproportionately slowed by permafrost. As a result, permafrost thaw due to climate change will likely increase erosion rates on large rivers and have limited impact on small rivers, but very little data are available for small rivers in the Arctic, highlighting key data need. Key Points: Permafrost systematically reduces riverbank erosion rates by up to nine times compared to rivers not in permafrost regionsThe influence of permafrost on small rivers is limited and increases with river sizePermafrost thaw due to climate change will likely increase erosion rates on large rivers and have a limited impact on smaller rivers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic coastal margins receive organic material input from rivers, melted sea ice, and coastal erosion, phenomena that are all undergoing changes related to global climate. The optical properties of coastal Arctic waters contain information on this organic material, and we examined three optical properties of seawater (absorption, backscatter, and fluorescence) for their relationships to variability in dissolved and particulate organic carbon (DOC and POC) in Stefansson Sound, Alaska, a coastal Arctic embayment. During open water periods in 2018 and 2019, DOC was inversely correlated with salinity (r2 = 0.97) and positively correlated with dissolved organic matter fluorescence (fDOM; r2 = 0.67). DOC showed strong correlation with the nonparticulate absorption coefficient at 440 nm (ag(440)) only in 2018 (r2 = 0.95). The vertical structure of fDOM in Stefansson Sound aligned with density profiles more strongly in 2018 than in 2019, and higher levels of fDOM, ag(440), and backscatter seen near the bottom in 2019 suggest wind‐driven mixing and/or bottom resuspension events. In both years, DOC correlated strongly with the spectral slope of the absorption coefficient between 412 and 550 nm (r2 = 0.70), and POC was well correlated with spectral backscattering at 470, 532, and 660 nm (r2 = 0.90, 0.71, and 0.59). These interannual differences in the spatial and vertical distributions of DOC and POC, and their respective correlations with optical proxies, likely reflect regional climatological factors such as precipitation over the adjacent watersheds, wind patterns, and residual sea ice in late summer. Plain Language Summary: Arctic coastal waters are experiencing drastic changes in response to changing global climate, many of which can affect the biology and biogeochemistry of these waters in the ice‐free summer months. Optical methods are potentially valuable for measuring changes in the amount of particulate and dissolved organic carbon in seawater. To study the biogeochemistry of organic carbon in the coastal Arctic using optical properties, we must first understand their relationships in these optically complex waters. This study examines these relationships within a 2‐year study in Stefansson Sound, a coastal embayment along the Alaskan Arctic Ocean. We found that across 2 years with differing residual sea ice in summer and rainfall trends in the adjacent watersheds, some optical properties can be useful proxies for dissolved and particulate carbon in seawater. For these two specific years, we observed that the amount of dissolved organic carbon found in this region is likely related to the precipitation over the adjacent watersheds, which increases the river flow and delivery of terrestrial organic carbon into these coastal waters. Key Points: Absorption, fluorescence, and spectral slope are conditionally accurate optical proxies for dissolved organic carbon in nearshore coastal Arctic watersRiver discharge appears to be the primary driver of spatial distributions of organic matter in Stefansson Sound during the open water seasonThe backscattering coefficient can serve as a conditional proxy for particulate organic carbon concentration in nearshore coastal Arctic waters [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boreal forest and tundra ecosystems are undergoing rapid climatic and environmental changes with consequences for ecosystem structure, function, and services. Although riparian zones occupy a small footprint within subarctic landscapes, they have disproportionately high value as foci of hydrological processes, biogeochemical cycling, ecological disturbance, biodiversity, and wildlife activity. Recent observations of increased winter discharge, reduced peak flows, and increased connectivity between catchments, streams, and groundwater in subarctic riparian zones have prompted predictions of altered riverine disturbance regimes, increased channelization, and a decline in the extent of active floodplains. However, few observational data exist concerning the spatiotemporal dynamics of subarctic floodplain vegetation, which can serve as a bioindicator to corroborate such predictions. We analyzed the distribution and extent of riparian ecotypes across a network of streams in 12 Interior Alaska watersheds using high‐resolution image pairs from circa 1981–2010. All stream reaches encompassed pronounced elevational gradients and included elevational forest–tundra ecotones. We classified riparian ecotypes using an image‐based point‐intercept sampling approach, calculated the probability of ecotype transitions, and evaluated relationships between ecotype transitions and environmental covariates. Our results reveal widespread increases in the stature, density, and extent of riparian vegetation spanning gradients of elevation, floodplain morphology, and climate. Ecotype transitions occurred at >20% of sample points, and there was a strong imbalance toward forward successional transitions (16.5%) versus backward transitions (4.0%). That is, we observed a strong tendency toward increasing cover, stature, and density of vegetation communities across our extensive sampling domain across our approximately 30‐year sample period. This relatively rapid riparian "greening" signal tended to be most pronounced in our glaciated watersheds. Although the streams we studied displayed high local variability in ecotype transitions, our results support hypotheses of increasing channelization and reduced extent of unvegetated surfaces on subarctic floodplains. They also likely reflect a trend toward more rapid and extensive plant recruitment and growth due to processes associated with conspicuous warming in northern ecosystems, consistent with greening documented in other subarctic landscape segments along gradients of elevation and latitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autotrophic and heterotrophic microbes in stream biofilms dominate biogeochemical cycling and rely on nutrient and energy resources for growth and productivity. In the boreal forest, variation in these resources can originate from permafrost distribution and controls competition for nutrients between stream autotrophs and heterotrophs. We investigated which resources control nutrient uptake and metabolism in headwater stream biofilms of subarctic Alaska, USA, and how resource availability affects competition for inorganic nutrients. We hypothesized that the competitive outcome between autotrophs and heterotrophs for inorganic nutrients would be dependent on availability of organic C, or inorganic nutrients (N and P). To test our hypotheses, we measured resource limitation at the patch and reach scales along a permafrost gradient in interior Alaska. At the patch scale, nutrient diffusing substrata revealed that, secondary to light, N and P were colimiting to autotrophic growth, whereas C was primarily limiting to heterotrophic respiration. In the presence of labile C, heterotrophs exhibited a larger response to nutrient enrichment and outcompeted autotrophs for inorganic nutrients. At the reach scale, light availability had the largest influence on nutrient uptake, but inorganic nutrients were also important. The positive response to increased nutrient and C availability at the patch scale suggests that the predicted increase in exports into fluvial networks with permafrost degradation will alter biofilm structure and function. Ultimately, biofilm communities will shift to more heterotroph-dominated patches if heterotrophs outcompete autotrophs for inorganic nutrients. As permafrost thaws and nutrients and organic C mobilize into streams, nutrient uptake dynamics and competition within biofilms will be altered, affecting nutrient use and export. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic Ocean is surrounded by land that feeds highly seasonal rivers with water enriched in high concentrations of dissolved and particulate organic carbon (DOC and POC). Explicit estimates of the flux of organic carbon across the land‐ocean interface are difficult to quantify and many interdependent processes makes source attribution difficult. A high‐resolution 3‐D biogeochemical model was built for the lower Yukon River and coastal ocean to estimate biogeochemical cycling across the land‐ocean continuum. The model solves for complex reactions related to organic carbon transformation, including mechanistic photodegradation and multi‐reactivity microbial processing, DOC–POC flocculation, and phytoplankton dynamics. The baseline DOC and POC flux out of the delta from April to September 2019, was 977 and 536 Gg C (∼80% of the annual total), but only 50% of the DOC and 25% of the POC exited the plume across the 10 m isobath. Microbial breakdown of DOC accounted for a net loss of 168 Gg C (17% of delta export) within the plume and photodegradation accounted for a net loss of 46.6 Gg C DOC (5% of delta export) in 2019. Flocculation decreased the total organic carbon flux by only 6.4 Gg C (∼1%), while POC sinking accounted for 63.3 Gg C (10%) settling in the plume. The loss of chromophoric dissolved organic matter due to photodegradation increased the light available for phytoplankton growth throughout the coastal ocean, demonstrating the secondary effects that organic carbon reactions can have on biological processes and the net coastal carbon flux. Plain Language Summary: The Arctic is experiencing rapid warming due to climate change that is driving ecosystem changes throughout the region and beyond. An increase in Arctic river flow and changing carbon sources on land are well‐documented, particularly the thawing of permafrost that can release large amounts of organic carbon into rivers. These changes can create carbon‐climate feedbacks, but the carbon flow from land into the sea and its fate is not well understood. This land‐to‐sea continuum is a complex interconnected set of ecosystems that are linked at large deltas. Deltas can act as reactors and transformers of riverine material at the coast. Complex transformations can occur in relatively small areas that are difficult to access and very dynamic. We used a computer model to estimate the amount of organic carbon that flowed from the Yukon River delta in Alaska, USA to the coastal ocean. Carbon transformations were estimated that showed the relative importance of different sources and sinks of organic carbon. We highlight that carbon export to the ocean occurs within a short annual window and transformational processes vary in time and space. The interaction of carbon, light, and phytoplankton growth is a key set of processes to study moving forward. Key Points: Total organic carbon export out of the delta to the ocean from April to September 2019 was 1.5 Tg C, 65% of which was dissolved organic carbon50% and 25% of the total delta export of dissolved and particulate organic carbon crossed the 10 m isobath into the coastal oceanThe breakdown of riverine organic matter increases light for phytoplankton growth in the surface ocean 100 s of kilometers into the ocean [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River erosion affects the carbon cycle and thus climate by exporting terrigenous carbon to seafloor sediment and by nourishing CO2 -consuming marine life. The Yukon River–Bering Sea system preserves rare source-to-sink records of these processes across profound changes in global climate during the past 5 million years (Ma). Here, we expand the terrestrial erosion record by dating terraces along the Charley River, Alaska, and explore linkages among previously published Yukon River tributary incision chronologies and Bering Sea sedimentation. Cosmogenic 26Al/10Be isochron burial ages of Charley River terraces match previously documented central Yukon River tributary incision from 2.6 to 1.6 Ma during Pliocene–Pleistocene glacial expansion, and at 1.1 Ma during the 1.2–0.7 Ma Middle Pleistocene climate transition. Bering Sea sediments preserve 2–4-fold rate increases of Yukon River-derived continental detritus, terrestrial and marine organic carbon, and silicate microfossil deposition at 2.6–2.1 and 1.1–0.8 Ma. These tightly coupled records demonstrate elevated terrigenous nutrient and carbon export and concomitant Bering Sea productivity in response to climate-forced Yukon River incision. Carbon burial related to accelerated terrestrial erosion may contribute to CO2 drawdown across the Pliocene–Pleistocene and Middle Pleistocene climate transitions observed in many proxy records worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accelerated rate of climate change in the Arctic Ocean occurs in conjunction with a system known for its extreme seasonal variability. Here, we present 2 years of continuous pH, salinity, and temperature data from the north Arctic coast of Alaska from instruments deployed in a kelp bed at 4.5–6 m depths in Stefansson Sound. At the innermost site, which receives freshwater runoff from the nearby Sagavanirktok River, short‐term pH variability in late spring and summer produced pH values up to 8.67. The pH values of the deeper offshore site were less affected by freshwater input, although biological (heterotrophy) and physiochemical (ice formation) processes dominated during the winter months, driving pH down to 7.47 during the 8‐month period of ice cover. These long‐term physicochemical measurements reveal the natural but critical influence of changing river inputs on the pH of Arctic nearshore waters which support highly productive communities and subsistence fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic river systems erode permafrost in their banks and mobilize particulate organic carbon (OC). Meandering rivers can entrain particulate OC from permafrost many meters below the depth of annual thaw, potentially enabling the production of greenhouse gases. However, the amount and fate of permafrost OC that is mobilized by river erosion is uncertain. To constrain OC fluxes due to riverbank erosion and deposition, we collected riverbank and floodplain sediment samples along the Koyukuk River, which meanders through discontinuous permafrost in the Yukon River watershed, Alaska, USA, with an average migration rate of 0.52 myr-1. We measured sediment total OC (TOC) content, radiocarbon activity, water content, bulk density, grain size, and floodplain stratigraphy. Radiocarbon activity and TOC content were higher in samples dominated by silt as compared to sand, which we used to map OC content onto floodplain stratigraphy and estimate carbon fluxes due to river meandering. Results showed that the Koyukuk River erodes and re-deposits a substantial flux of OC each year due to its depth and high migration rate, generating a combined OC flux of a similar magnitude to the floodplain net ecological productivity. However, sediment being eroded from cutbanks and deposited as point bars had similar OC stocks (mean ± 1 SD of 125.3±13.1 kgOCm-2 in cutbanks versus 114.0±15.7 kgOCm-2 in point bars) whether or not the banks contained permafrost. We also observed radiocarbon-depleted biospheric OC in both cutbanks and permafrost-free point bars. These results indicate that a substantial fraction of aged biospheric OC that is liberated from floodplains by bank erosion is subsequently re-deposited in point bars rather than being oxidized. The process of aging, erosion, and re-deposition of floodplain organic material may be intrinsic to river–floodplain dynamics, regardless of permafrost content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Arctic ecosystems, increasing temperatures are driving the expansion of nitrogen (N) fixing shrubs across tundra landscapes. The implications of this expansion to the biogeochemistry of Arctic ecosystems are of critical importance and more work is needed to better understand the form, availability, and transportation potential of N from these shrubs across a variety of Arctic landscapes. To gain insights into the processes controlling N within a permafrost hillslope system, the spatiotemporal variability of nitrate (NO 3-) and its environmental controls were investigated at an alder (Alnus viridis spp. fruticosa) dominated permafrost tundra landscape in the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA. Soil pore water was collected from locations within alder shrubland growing along a well-drained hillslope and was compared to soil pore water collected from locations outside (upslope, downslope, and between) the alder shrubland. Soil pore water collected within alder shrubland had an average NO 3 -N (nitrogen from nitrate) concentration of 4.27±8.02 mg L -1 and differed significantly from locations outside alder shrubland (0.23±0.83 mg L -1 ; p<0.05). Temporal variation in NO 3 -N within and downslope of alder shrubland co-occurred with precipitation events where NO 3- that accumulated in the soil was likely flushed downslope during rainfall. These findings have important implications for nutrient availability and mobility in N-limited permafrost systems that are experiencing shrub expansion in response to a warming Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic lakes store, modify, and transport large quantities of carbon from terrestrial environments to the atmosphere; however, the spatial and temporal relationships between quantity and composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) have not been well characterized across broad arctic regions. Moreover, most arctic lake DOM compositions have been examined during the ice‐free summer, whereas DOM cycling between the ice‐covered winter months and summer have not been addressed. To resolve these spatial and seasonal uncertainties in DOM cycling, we sampled a series of arctic lakes from the North Slope of Alaska across a latitudinal gradient in the winter and summer over 3 years. Samples were analyzed for dissolved organic carbon concentration and DOM composition was characterized using optical and fluorescence properties combined with molecular‐level analysis using Fourier transform‐ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Tundra lake DOM properties including aromaticity and molecular stoichiometries were similar to other northern high‐latitude lakes, but optical parameters related to aromaticity and molecular weight were greater in major arctic rivers and in coastal lakes in the North Slope region. DOM composition was highly seasonal, with ice exclusion concentrating microbially processed DOM in the winter water columns, potentially influencing DOM cycling the following summer. However, the greatest variations in DOM composition were related to lake depth and likely other physical features including morphology and bathymetry. As the Arctic warms, we expect changes in hydrology and ice cover to enhance under‐ice microbial DOM processing, early summer photodegradation, and ultimately carbon fluxes to the atmosphere after ice‐out. Plain Language Summary: Arctic lakes contain large amounts of both inorganic and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) that is stored, processed, and transferred to the atmosphere. This cycling has been enhanced by recent arctic warming via anthropogenic climate change, making the fate and distribution of these different pools uncertain on both seasonal and spatial scales. We demonstrate that the amount of DOC and the composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) vary significantly across tundra lakes between summer and winter months when the lakes are entirely covered by ice. Furthermore, these seasonal trends are consistent across the North Slope of Alaska with lakes closer to the coast of the Arctic Ocean differing in bulk optical and molecular‐level properties, suggesting DOM is supplied by different sources and influenced by maritime effects. Finally, while seasonality was an important factor in explaining DOM compositions across the tundra, the greatest differences between lakes were attributed to other factors, likely related to the variations in lake geomorphology including lake depth and area across the region. As temperatures and precipitation change across the Arctic are expected, lake morphology will respond to a thawing landscape and influence the composition of DOM as well as how it is cycled from lakes to the atmosphere. Key Points: Dissolved organic carbon concentration and dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition differ seasonally due to ice exclusion and microbial processing in the winter monthsLake geomorphology is likely a major control for the overall lake DOM composition across the arctic tundraTundra lake DOM composition differs in optical properties and heteroatomic content between coastal and inland lakes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change will alter the balance between frozen and thawed conditions in Arctic systems. Increased temperatures will make the extensive northern permafrost carbon stock vulnerable to decomposition and translocation. Production, cycling, and transport of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) are crucial processes for high-latitude ecosystem carbon loss that result in considerable export off the Arctic landscape. To identify where and under what conditions permafrost DOC is mobilized in an Arctic headwater catchment, we measured radiocarbon (14C) of DOC and assessed DOC composition with ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis) of surface waters and shallow and deep subsurface porewaters from 17 drainages in the Barrow Environmental Observatory in Alaska. Samples were collected in July and September 2013 to assess changes in age and chemistry of DOC over time. DOC age was highly variable ranging from modern (19 ‰ Δ14 C) to approximately 7000 BP (- 583 ‰ Δ14 C). DOC age increased with depth, over the summer as the active layer deepened, and with increasing drainage size. DOC quality indicators reflected a DOC source rich in high molecular-weight and aromatic compounds, characteristics consistent with vegetation-derived organic matter that had undergone little microbial processing, throughout the summer and a weak relationship with DOC age. In deep porewaters, DOC age was also correlated with several biogeochemical indicators (including dissolved methane concentration, δ13 C, and the apparent fractionation factor), suggesting a coupling between carbon and redox biogeochemistry influencing methane production. In the drained thawed lake basins included in this study, DOC concentrations and contributions of vegetation-derived organic matter declined with increasing basin age. The weak relationship between DOC age and chemistry and consistency in DOC chemical indicators over the summer suggest a high lability of old DOC released by thawing permafrost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mineral elements bind to dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in permafrost soils, and this may contribute to the stabilization or the degradation of organic carbon along the soil to river continuum. Permafrost thaw enlarges the pool of soil constituents available for soil to river transfer. The unknown is how changes in hydrology upon permafrost degradation affect the connection between soil‐derived mineral element‐bound DOC and headwater streams. Here, we study Al, Fe, Ca, and DOC concentrations in water from a headwater stream at Eight Mile Lake, Alaska, USA (colloidal [0.22 μm–1 kDa] and truly dissolved [<1 kDa] fractions) and in soil pore waters sampled across a gradient of permafrost degradation at the same location. We target the peak flow to base flow transition to show that there is a narrow window of mineral element‐bound DOC colloid transport from soils to streams. We show that during spring thaw and maximum thaw there is an enhanced lateral transfer of mineral element‐bound DOC colloids in extensively degraded sites compared to minimally degraded sites. This is explained by a more rapid response of hydrology at peak flow to base flow transition at degraded sites. Our results suggest that ongoing permafrost degradation and the associated response of soils to changing hydrology can be detected by targeting the composition and size of mineral element‐DOC associations in soil waters and headwater streams during peak flow‐baseflow transitions. Key Points: Headwater streams capture mineral element‐bound dissolved organic carbon (DOC) colloids from permafrost soils during peak flow events (snowmelt and rain)The supply of mineral element‐bound DOC colloids from soils to river is amplified at sites of extensive permafrost degradationPre‐snowmelt soil thaw and more rapid drainage during summer are hydrological changes favoring colloid transport from soil to river [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Repeated sampling of spatially distributed river chemistry can be used to assess the location, scale, and persistence of carbon and nutrient contributions to watershed exports. Here, we provide a comprehensive set of water chemistry measurements and ecohydrological metrics describing the biogeochemical conditions of permafrost-affected Arctic watersheds. These data were collected in watershed-wide synoptic campaigns in six stream networks across northern Alaska. Three watersheds are associated with the Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research site at Toolik Field Station (TFS), which were sampled seasonally each June and August from 2016 to 2018. Three watersheds were associated with the National Park Service (NPS) of Alaska and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and were sampled annually from 2015 to 2019. Extensive water chemistry characterization included carbon species, dissolved nutrients, and major ions. The objective of the sampling designs and data acquisition was to characterize terrestrial–aquatic linkages and processing of material in stream networks. The data allow estimation of novel ecohydrological metrics that describe the dominant location, scale, and overall persistence of ecosystem processes in continuous permafrost. These metrics are (1) subcatchment leverage, (2) variance collapse, and (3) spatial persistence. Raw data are available at the National Park Service Integrated Resource Management Applications portal (O'Donnell et al., 2021, 10.5066/P9SBK2DZ) and within the Environmental Data Initiative (Abbott, 2021, 10.6073/pasta/258a44fb9055163dd4dd4371b9dce945). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As glaciers around the world rapidly lose mass, the tight coupling between glaciers and downstream ecosystems is resulting in widespread impacts on global hydrologic and biogeochemical cycling. However, a range of challenges make it difficult to conduct research in glacierized systems, and our knowledge of seasonally changing hydrologic processes and solute sources and signatures is limited. This in turn hampers our ability to make predictions on solute composition and flux. We conducted a broad water sampling campaign in order to understand the present‐day partitioning of water sources and associated solutes in Alaska's Wolverine Glacier watershed. We established a relationship between electrical conductivity and streamflow at the watershed outlet to divide the melt season into four hydroclimatic periods. Across hydroclimatic periods, we observed a shift in nonglacial source waters from snowmelt‐dominated overland and shallow subsurface flow paths to deeper groundwater flow paths. We also observed the shift from a low‐ to high‐efficiency subglacial drainage network and the associated flushing of water stored subglacially with higher solute loads. We used calcium, the dominant dissolved ion, from watershed outlet samples to estimate solute fluxes for each hydroclimatic period across two melt seasons. We found between 40% and 55% of Ca2+ export occurred during the late season rainy period. This partitioning of the melt season coupled with a characterization of the chemical makeup and magnitude of solute export provides new insight into a rapidly changing watershed and creates a framework to quantify and predict changes to solute fluxes across a melt season. Key Points: Electrical conductivity‐discharge relationships indicate four hydroclimatic periods in a glacierized watershedDominant source waters shift between hydroclimatic periods, particularly from snowmelt to groundwaterHighest solute flux occurs during the late‐season rainy period, which is projected to lengthen with changing climate [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thawing permafrost influences landslide initiation, but observation of landslide development in thawing permafrost is limited. To evaluate the impact of landslide age, morphology, and permafrost conditions, we quantified topographic deformation of three shallow‐angle, thaw‐initiated landslides in discontinuous permafrost in Alaska. Two of the landslides initiated <3 years ago and the third initiated 20–50 years ago. The two recent landslides are still mobile, with maximum elevation loss of 0.8 ± 0.04 and 1.0 ± 0.08 m over the study period. At one site, shallow permafrost (<2.3 m) is present at 0.4–1.9 m depth adjacent to the landslide but not within the landslide. The lack of shallow permafrost within the slide indicates that permafrost has thawed faster within the landslide because ground surface disturbance increased heat flux to the subsurface. We propose that a positive feedback between permafrost thaw and landslide development exists. Climate warming will accelerate loss of permafrost in recent landslides. Plain Language Summary: Climate warming is thawing permafrost (frozen ground), which can increase the occurrence of landslides. To understand how small landslides on shallow hillslopes change over time, we compared topographic survey data from the summers of 2017 and 2018. We focused on three small landslides that initiated because of thawing permafrost in Denali National Park, Alaska, including two recent landslides (2–3 years old) and one older landslide (20–50 years old). We determined that the two young landslides are still moving. We also found that permafrost has continued to thaw faster within the landslide areas than on intact hillslopes. Key Points: We quantified topographic deformation of three thaw‐induced landslides in Alaska. The two recent (<3 years old) landslides are still mobileShallow permafrost was present on adjacent hillslopes but not within the landslides, indicating that permafrost thawed faster in the slidesWe propose a feedback loop between permafrost thaw and landslide deformation. Ground disturbance increases heat flux to the subsurface [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kuparuk River, located on Alaska's North Slope, is one of the most studied rivers in the Arctic. For nearly 40 seasons, physical, chemical, and biological parameters have been monitored continuously in a 5 km, 4th‐order reach of the river during the short summer season when there is flow in this river. Flow decreases as the tundra begins to refreeze in the late autumn and these streams normally remain frozen until the spring freshet. The monitoring program has supported a 34‐year phosphorus enrichment experiment conducted by the Arctic Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. Enrichment with phosphorus dramatically changed the structure and function of the primary producer community in the fertilized reach, with cascading effects in higher trophic levels. The datasets generated by this experiment have revealed significant increases in flow‐weighted mean concentrations of nitrate and significant decreases in flow‐weighted mean concentrations of dissolved organic N and P over time. In this paper, we present an overview of the nutrient concentration, discharge, macroinvertebrate, and Arctic grayling population datasets we have collected. The purposes of these datasets are to track changes resulting from the enrichment experiment, support ancillary research on responses of an Arctic stream to climate warming and permafrost thaw, and to provide input and validation data for models to predict future changes in Arctic streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yukon River exports a large amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), much of which is colored, absorbing visible and ultraviolet light. Yukon River water typically has low total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), with an average DOC : TDN ratio of 21.1 (mol C mol N−1) ~ 200 km upstream from the coast at Pilot Station, Alaska. TDN has been correlated to the bioavailability of DOC, but a direct estimate of the dependence of DOC reactivity on nutrient availability has not been conducted in the Yukon River delta. The biodegradability of DOC and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) was assessed along a gradient within the Yukon River delta and into the coastal ocean. Samples were dark incubated at 20°C and half of the incubations were amended with inorganic nutrients. At five time points through 27 d, CDOM absorption and DOC concentration were measured. Initial DOC concentration was 113–830 μmol C L−1 and CDOM absorption at 443 nm (a443) ranged from 0.16 to 7.8 m−1 from the ocean to a high CDOM lake. DOC was relatively unreactive, with 3–6% of DOC degrading in riverine samples and little difference between nutrient amended and control incubations. Control river delta a443 decreased 3–10%, while nutrient amended treatments saw a 6–22% decline over 27 d. In the nutrient amended riverine stations, CDOM absorption loss was greater at blue wavelengths and CDOM degradation was greater than total DOC loss. DOC was resistant to biodegradation in both nutrient amended and ambient conditions, while CDOM was preferentially degraded when nutrients were replete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of permafrost influences the flow paths of water through Arctic landscapes and thereby has the potential to impact stream discharge and thermal regimes. Observations from 11 headwater streams in Alaska showed that July water temperatures were higher in catchments with more near‐surface permafrost. We apply a fully coupled cryohydrology model to investigate if the impact of permafrost on flow path depth could cause the same pattern in temperatures of groundwater discharging from hillslopes to streams. The model simulates surface energy and water balances, snow, and subsurface water and energy balances for two‐dimensional hillslope model cases with varying permafrost extent. We find that hillslopes with continuous permafrost have more shallow flow paths and twice as high rates of evapotranspiration, compared to hillslopes with no permafrost. For our simulated cases, 6.7% of the horizontal water flux moves through the top organic soil layers when there is continuous permafrost, while only 0.5% moves through organic layers without permafrost. The deeper flow paths in permafrost‐free simulations buffer seasonal temperature extremes, so that summer groundwater discharge temperatures are highest with continuous permafrost. Our results suggest that permafrost thawing alters groundwater flow paths and can lead to decreases in summer stream temperatures and reductions in evapotranspiration in headwater catchments. These changes are of potential importance for stream biotic components of ecosystems, however, the full impact remains unknown. Key Points: Models of hillslope permafrost show that groundwater flow paths deepen as permafrost thickness and extent decreasesLess permafrost, and therefore deeper flow paths, result in reduced evapotranspiration and increased groundwater dischargeModel and observations show that shallow permafrost leads to higher July stream temperatures, suggesting streams will cool as soils warm [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The western Arctic Ocean, including its shelves and coastal habitats, has become a focus in ocean acidification research over the past decade as the colder waters of the region and the reduction of sea ice appear to promote the uptake of excess atmospheric CO2. Due to seasonal sea ice coverage, high-frequency monitoring of pH or other carbonate chemistry parameters is typically limited to infrequent ship-based transects during ice-free summers. This approach has failed to capture year-round nearshore carbonate chemistry dynamics which is modulated by biological metabolism in response to abundant allochthonous organic matter to the narrow shelf of the Beaufort Sea and adjacent regions. The coastline of the Beaufort Sea comprises a series of lagoons that account for > 50 % of the land–sea interface. The lagoon ecosystems are novel features that cycle between "open" and "closed" phases (i.e., ice-free and ice-covered, respectively). In this study, we collected high-frequency pH, salinity, temperature, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) measurements in association with the Beaufort Lagoon Ecosystems – Long Term Ecological Research program – for an entire calendar year in Kaktovik Lagoon, Alaska, USA, capturing two open-water phases and one closed phase. Hourly pH variability during the open-water phases are some of the fastest rates reported, exceeding 0.4 units. Baseline pH varied substantially between the open phase in 2018 and open phase in 2019 from ∼ 7.85 to 8.05, respectively, despite similar hourly rates of change. Salinity–pH relationships were mixed during all three phases, displaying no correlation in the 2018 open phase, a negative correlation in the 2018/19 closed phase, and a positive correlation during the 2019 open phase. The high frequency of pH variability could partially be explained by photosynthesis–respiration cycles as correlation coefficients between daily average pH and PAR were 0.46 and 0.64 for 2018 and 2019 open phases, respectively. The estimated annual daily average CO2 efflux (from sea to atmosphere) was 5.9 ± 19.3 mmolm-2d-1 , which is converse to the negative influx of CO2 estimated for the coastal Beaufort Sea despite exhibiting extreme variability. Considering the geomorphic differences such as depth and enclosure in Beaufort Sea lagoons, further investigation is needed to assess whether there are periods of the open phase in which lagoons are sources of carbon to the atmosphere, potentially offsetting the predicted sink capacity of the greater Beaufort Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seasonal suspended sediment transfer in glaciated catchments is responsive to meteorological, geomorphological, and glacio‐fluvial conditions, and thus is a useful indicator of environmental system dynamics. Knowledge of multifaceted fluvial sediment‐transfer processes is limited in the Alaskan Arctic – a region sensitive to contemporary environmental change. For two glaciated sub‐catchments at Lake Peters, northeast Brooks Range, Alaska, we conducted a two‐year endeavour to monitor the hydrology and meteorology, and used the data to derive multiple‐regression models of suspended sediment load. Statistical selection of the best models shows that incorporating meteorological or temporal explanatory variables improves performances of turbidity‐ and discharge‐based sediment models. The resulting modelled specific suspended sediment yields to Lake Peters are: 33 (20–60) t km−2 yr−1 in 2015, and 79 (50–140) t km−2 yr−1 in 2016 (95% confidence band estimates). In contrast to previous studies in Arctic Alaska, fluvial suspended sediment transfer to Lake Peters was primarily influenced by rainfall, and secondarily influenced by temperature‐driven melt processes associated with clockwise diurnal hysteresis. Despite different sub‐catchment glacier coverage, specific yields were the same order of magnitude from the two primary inflows to Lake Peters, which are Carnivore Creek (128 km2; 10% glacier coverage) and Chamberlin Creek (8 km2; 23% glacier coverage). Seasonal to longer‐term sediment exhaustion and/or contrasting glacier dynamics may explain the lower than expected relative specific sediment yield from the more heavily glacierized Chamberlin Creek catchment. Absolute suspended sediment yield (t yr−1) from Carnivore Creek to Lake Peters was 27 times greater than from Chamberlin Creek, which we attribute to catchment size and sediment supply differences. Our results provide a foundational understanding of the current sediment transfer regime and are useful for predicting changes in fluvial sediment transport in glaciated Alaskan Arctic catchments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snowmelt‐dominated runoff regimes have defined northern Alaskan rivers. Discharge records from three watersheds within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR‐A) span 19 years and capture three notable periods of changing runoff. In the first, 2001–2008, mean annual runoff (MAR) averaged 90 mm, characterized by sharp snowmelt runoff and summer drought. Over the next 7 years, larger MAR averaged 120 mm driven by high and early snowmelt runoff. The most recent 4 years, 2016–2019, had even higher MAR of 163 mm with high and sustained late summer flows. Hydrograph analysis suggests a shift toward rainfall‐dominated runoff in the most recent period compared to snowmelt‐dominated hydrographs in the previous two. Declining sea ice appears closely linked to increasing late summer precipitation and a shift toward rainfall runoff. Future development in the NPR‐A will require continued hydrological monitoring and planning to mitigate flood and erosion hazards, permafrost degradation, and ecosystem impairment. Plain Language Summary: Water is expected to cycle more rapidly as the Arctic climate warms, yet it is uncertain whether conditions will get wetter or dryer. Watershed runoff, measured in the form of river flow, captures the balance of precipitation and evaporation over wide land areas to detect how the water cycle is changing. Historically, arctic river flows are supplied mainly by spring snowmelt and become quite low during summers with limited rainfall. River flow records from three watersheds in northern Alaska over the last 19 years provide evidence that total water inputs from snow and rain are increasing relative to water losses from evaporation. Most recently, contributions from rainfall have increased greatly, and this may be related to enhanced moisture supply from more ice‐free conditions of the Arctic Ocean. Higher river flows that come later in the summer may affect erosion and sedimentation, frozen soils, fish habitat, and human infrastructure. Key Points: Arctic Coastal Plain watershed runoff regimes are traditionally snowmelt‐dominatedDischarge records show increasing annual runoff over the past 19 years and much higher rainfall runoff contributions over the last 4 yearsIncreasing ice‐free ocean conditions correspond to higher rainfall runoff, yet attribution of hydrologic responses remain uncertain [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Beaufort Sea, Arctic crustose coralline algae (CCA) persist in an environment of high seasonal variability defined by naturally low pH ocean water and high magnitude freshwater pulses in the spring. The effects of salinity on the CCA Leptophytum foecundum were observed through a series of laboratory and field experiments in Stefansson Sound, Alaska. We found that salinity (treatments of 10, 20, and 30), independent of pH, affected L. foecundum physiology based on measurements of three parameters: photosynthetic yield, pigmentation, and calcium carbonate dissolution. Our experimental results revealed that L. foecundum individuals in the 10-salinity treatment exhibited an obvious stress response while those in the 20- and 30-salinity treatments were not significantly different for three parameters. Reciprocal in situ transplants and recruitment patterns between areas dominated by CCA and areas where CCA were absent illustrated that inshore locations receiving large pulses of freshwater were not suitable for CCA persistence. Ultimately, spatially and temporally varying salinity regimes levels affected distribution of CCA in the nearshore Arctic. These results have implications for epilithic benthic community structure in subtidal areas near freshwater sources and highlight the importance of salinity in CCA physiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple aquatic ecosystems (pond, lake, river, lagoon, and ocean) on the Arctic Coastal Plain near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, USA, were visited to determine their relative atmospheric CO2 flux and how this may have changed over time. The nearshore coastal waters and large freshwater lakes were small sinks of atmospheric CO2, whereas smaller waterbodies were substantial sources. pCO2 was linked to dissolved organic carbon concentrations across broad spatial and temporal scales, with greater concentrations found in smaller freshwater systems (i.e., ponds and rivers). On a day‐to‐day basis, water temperatures appeared to be the strongest driver of pCO2 levels in tundra ponds, where warmer temperatures likely stimulated microbial mineralization of carbon in both aquatic and hydrologically linked terrestrial environments. Large rainfall events, which may lead to inflow of carbon‐rich groundwater into these ponds, also were associated with increased daily average pCO2. Based on comparison to historical data, we estimate that CO2 concentrations in tundra ponds have increased more than 1.8 times over the past 40 years. Quantifying CO2 flux from these abundant aquatic ecosystems on the Arctic Coastal Plain and elsewhere in the high northern latitudes will likely have important implications for furthering understanding of landscape‐level and nearshore carbon dynamics in the Arctic. Key Points: Nearshore coastal marine waters and large freshwater lakes were small sinks of atmospheric CO2, whereas smaller waterbodies with tighter linkages to the terrestrial landscape (i.e., ponds or rivers) were substantial sourcesAquatic pCO2 was primarily linked to dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations, water temperatures, and large rainfall eventsWe estimate that pCO2 concentrations in tundra ponds have nearly doubled over the past 40 years [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic terrestrial ecosystems are very sensitive to the global climate change due to the large storage of soil organic carbon and the presence of snow, glacier, and permafrost, which respond directly to near surface air temperature that has warmed in the Arctic by almost twice as much as the global average. These ecosystems play a significant role in affecting regional and global carbon cycling, which have been traditionally quantified using biogeochemical models that have not explicitly considered the loss of carbon due to lateral flow of water from land to aquatic ecosystems. Building upon an extant spatially distributed hydrological model and a process‐based biogeochemical model, we have developed a three‐dimensional terrestrial ecosystem model to elucidate how lateral water flow has impacted the regional dissolved organic carbon (DOC) dynamics in the Tanana Flats Basin in central Alaska. The model explicitly simulates the production, consumption, and transport of DOC. Both in situ observational data and remote sensing‐based products were used to calibrate and validate the model. Our simulations show that (1) plant litter DOC leaching exerts significant controls on soil DOC concentration during precipitation and snowmelt events, (2) lateral transport plays an important role in affecting regional DOC dynamics, and (3) DOC export to the Tanana River is approximately 9.6 × 106 kg C year−1. This study provides a modeling framework to adequately quantify the Arctic land ecosystem carbon budget by considering the lateral transport of carbon affected by permafrost degradation. The quantification of the lateral carbon fluxes will also improve future carbon cycle modeling for Arctic aquatic ecosystems. Plain Language Summary: Arctic ecosystems are very sensitive to the warming climate because of the presence of snow, glacier, and frozen soil. As Arctic is warming up, snow and glacier are melting, and frozen soil begins to thaw. The latter may release a large amount of carbon stored in the frozen soil, potentially causing a positive feedback to the global climate system. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is the largest reduced carbon and plays an important role in the Arctic carbon cycling. Few studies have quantified how land DOC can be produced and released to aquatic ecosystems. In this study, we developed a three‐dimensional ecosystem model to illustrate how DOC can be produced and transferred from land to river. We applied and validated this model to the Tanana Flats in central Alaska. We found that (1) litterfall plays an important role in releasing DOC during snowmelt and runoff, (2) water flow is key to the redistribution of DOC from land to river, and (3) 10,000 tons of DOC is released into the Tanana River annually from this region. Our study provides a powerful tool to quantify the regional carbon cycling by explicitly considering the carbon export from land to aquatic ecosystems in the Arctic. Key Points: A three‐dimensional water and carbon cycle model has been developed and applied to the Tanana Flats Basin in central AlaskaLateral litter DOC and soil DOC fluxes contribute 54% and 46% to the total stream DOC export, respectively, in the Tanana Flats BasinWith plant litter leaching during precipitation and snowmelt events, lateral flow is important in DOC transport from land to aquatic ecosystems [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantity and quality of river discharge in Arctic regions is influenced by many processes including climate, watershed attributes and, increasingly, hydrological cycle intensification and permafrost thaw. We used a hydrological model to quantify baseline conditions and investigate the changing character of hydrological elements for Arctic watersheds between Utqiagvik (formerly known as Barrow)) and just west of Mackenzie River over the period 1981–2010. A synthesis of measurements and model simulations shows that the region exports 31.9 km 3 yr -1 of freshwater via river discharge, with 55.5 % (17.7 km 3 yr -1) coming collectively from the Colville, Kuparuk, and Sagavanirktok rivers. The simulations point to significant (p<0.05) increases (134 %–212 % of average) in cold season discharge (CSD) for several large North Slope rivers including the Colville and Kuparuk, and for the region as a whole. A significant increase in the proportion of subsurface runoff to total runoff is noted for the region and for 24 of the 42 study basins, with the change most prevalent across the northern foothills of the Brooks Range. Relatively large increases in simulated active-layer thickness (ALT) suggest a physical connection between warming climate, permafrost degradation, and increasing subsurface flow to streams and rivers. A decline in terrestrial water storage (TWS) is attributed to losses in soil ice that outweigh gains in soil liquid water storage. Over the 30-year period, the timing of peak spring (freshet) discharge shifts earlier by 4.5 d, though the time trend is only marginally (p=0.1) significant. These changing characteristics of Arctic rivers have important implications for water, carbon, and nutrient cycling in coastal environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Datasets from a 4-year monitoring effort at Lake Peters, a glacier-fed lake in Arctic Alaska, are described and presented with accompanying methods, biases, and corrections. Three meteorological stations documented air temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall at different elevations in the Lake Peters watershed. Data from ablation stake stations on Chamberlin Glacier were used to quantify glacial melt, and measurements from two hydrological stations were used to reconstruct continuous discharge for the primary inflows to Lake Peters, Carnivore and Chamberlin creeks. The lake's thermal structure was monitored using a network of temperature sensors on moorings, the lake's water level was recorded using pressure sensors, and sedimentary inputs to the lake were documented by sediment traps. We demonstrate the utility of these datasets by examining a flood event in July 2015, though other uses include studying intra- and inter-annual trends in this weather–glacier–river–lake system, contextualizing interpretations of lake sediment cores, and providing background for modeling studies. Al. DOI-referenced datasets described in this paper are archived at the National Science Foundation Arctic Data Center at the following overview web page for the project: https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/urn:uuid:df1eace5-4dd7-4517-a985-e4113c631044 (last access: 13 October 2019; Kaufman et al., 2019f). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River watersheds are among the most complex terrestrial features in Alaska, performing valuable ecosystem functions and providing services for human society. Rivers are vital to both estuarine and aquatic biota and play important roles in biogeochemical cycles and physical processes. The functions of watersheds have been used as vulnerability indicators for ecosystem and socioeconomic resilience. Despite a long history of human activity, the Yukon River has not received the holistic and interdisciplinary attention given to the other great American river systems. By using hypothesis-based monitoring of key watershed functions, we can gain insight to regime-shifting stresses such as fire, toxins, and invasive species development. Coupling adaptive risk management practices involving stakeholders with place-based education, especially contaminants and nutrition related, can maintain resilience within communities. The Yukon watershed provides a broadscale opportunity for communities to monitor the environment, manage resources, and contribute to stewardship policy formation. Monitoring keystone species and community activities, such as citizen science, are critical first steps to following changes to resiliency throughout the Yukon watershed. Creating a policy environment that encourages local experimentation and innovation contributes to resilience maintenance during development-imposed stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Condor: Ornithological Applications is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Northern high latitudes contain large amounts of soil organic carbon (SOC), of which Alaskan terrestrial ecosystems account for a substantial proportion. In this study, the SOC accumulation in Alaskan terrestrial ecosystems over the last 15 000 years was simulated using a process-based biogeochemistry model for both peatland and non-peatland ecosystems. Comparable with the previous estimates of 25-70 PgC in peatland and 13-22 Pg C in non-peatland soils within 1m depth in Alaska using peat-core data, our model estimated a total SOC of 36-63 Pg C at present, including 27-48 PgC in peatland soils and 9-15 Pg C in non-peatland soils. Current vegetation stored 2.5-3.7 Pg C in Alaska, with 0.3-0.6 PgC in peatlands and 2.2-3.1 Pg C in non-peatlands. The simulated average rate of peat C accumulation was 2.3 TgC yr-1, with a peak value of 5.1 Tg C yr-1 during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) in the early Holocene, 4-fold higher than the average rate of 1.4 TgC yr-1 over the rest of the Holocene. The SOC accumulation slowed down, or even ceased, during the neoglacial climate cooling after the mid-Holocene, but increased again in the 20th century. The model-estimated peat depths ranged from 1.1 to 2.7 m, similar to the field-based estimate of 2.29m for the region. We found that the changes in vegetation and their distributions were the main factors in determining the spatial variations of SOC accumulation during different time periods. Warmer summer temperature and stronger radiation seasonality, along with higher precipitation in the HTM and the 20th century, might have resulted in the extensive peatland expansion and carbon accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seagrass meadows, one of the world's most widespread and productive ecosystems, provide a wide range of services with real economic value. Worldwide declines in the distribution and abundance of seagrasses and increased threats to coastal ecosystems from climate change have prompted a need to acquire baseline data for monitoring and protecting these important habitats. We assessed the distribution and abundance of eelgrass (Zostera marina) along nearly 1200 km of shoreline on the lower Alaska Peninsula, a region of expansive eelgrass meadows whose status and trends are poorly understood. We demonstrate the effectiveness of a multi-scale approach by using Landsat satellite imagery to map the total areal extent of eelgrass while integrating field survey data to improve map accuracy and describe the physical and biological condition of the meadows. Innovative use of proven methods and processing tools was used to address challenges inherent to remote sensing in high latitude, coastal environments. Eelgrass was estimated to cover ~31,000 ha, 91% of submerged aquatic vegetation on the lower Alaska Peninsula, nearly doubling the known spatial extent of eelgrass in the region. Mapping accuracy was 80%-90% for eelgrass distribution at locations containing adequate field survey data for error analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon (Si) exports from terrestrial to marine systems can dictate phytoplankton species composition in Arctic coastal waters. Diatoms are often the dominant autotroph in Arctic waters, making Si an important control on Arctic marine primary productivity. Yet even as Arctic regions are among the fastest warming on Earth, we lack baseline knowledge on the magnitudes and controls of Arctic river Si exports. To address uncertainties in current and future Si behavior, we used a combination of field data and modeling to quantify daily yields of dissolved Si (DSi) and biogenic Si (BSi) from a 400 km space‐for‐time latitudinal gradient of seven basins across the boreal‐Arctic transition in Alaska (United States) over the course of 2 years (2015–2016). Mean annual DSi concentrations (33–149 μM) and yields (13–49 kmol km−2 year−1) were significantly and positively correlated with mean basin active layer depth, indicating that permafrost thaw will likely increase DSi fluxes to Arctic coastal waters. Conversely, BSi concentrations (7–16 μM) and yields (2.6–4.5 kmol km−2 year−1) were more uniform across the seven basins, indicating that warming may not substantially alter BSi loads to coastal systems in the near future. Our data also indicate that climatic warming will advance the timing of Si delivery to coastal waters in the spring, although the ratios of Si to nitrogen in Arctic river exports will likely remain steady. These results highlight the important role of basin hydrology, largely driven by permafrost extent, as a key driver of Si exchange at the land‐sea interface in the Arctic. Key Points: Increasing active layer depth is associated with significantly higher dissolved Si exports, while biogenic Si shows no such patternClimatic warming is likely to increase dissolved, but not biogenic, Si exports from Alaskan Arctic rivers to coastal receiving watersPermafrost thaw, and associated shifts in hydrology, exert a larger control over Arctic Si exports, compared to shifting vegetation cover [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the study conducted by researcher Mark Lara and colleagues regarding the geomorphological features of the Barrow Peninsula of Alaska. Topics discussed include the classification and identification of landscape by remote sensing data, the methane emissions and carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake, and the geomorphic change in Arctic landscapes.