Active layer hydrology in an arctic tundra ecosystem: quantifying water sources and cycling using water stable isotopes

Throckmorton, H.; Newman, Brent D.; Heikoop, Jeffrey M.; Perkins, George; Feng, Xiahong; Graham, David E.; O’Malley, Daniel; Vesselinov, Velimir V.; Young, J. M.; Wullschleger, Stan D.; Wilson, Cathy J.

doi:10.1002/hyp.10883

Cited by 81 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Of the 62 mm of precipitation that was recorded between 10/10/2012 and 6/11/2013 at the Utqiaġvik weather station, 20% fell during the 2013 Pre-Melt and Melt Periods.The available isotopic data from those precipitation events suggest all were near the LWML(Throckmorton et al, 2016). The somewhat lower value estimated for the 2013 Winter Period at the BEO is likely a consequence of the cold temperatures and mild wind speeds, which reduce snow sublimation through reduced available energy for phase transfer and reduced blowing snow fetch distances, respectively.…”

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confidence: 91%

“…an average of +2.7‰Áday −1 , and δ 18 O increased an average of +0.53‰Áday −1 . The isotopic composition of wedge ice or textural ice can be highly variable however(Throckmorton et al, 2016), and greater efforts isotopically characterize Arctic water source terms should be made to confirm this preliminary observation. The fraction of surface water lost to evaporation during the Post-Melt Period was estimated using the method described in Section 2.…”

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confidence: 95%

“…Figure 2, bottom), indicating the end of the Winter Period and the beginning of the Pre-MeltPeriod. Using previously published data(Throckmorton et al, 2016), if winter is defined by the Northern Meteorological Season, the average d-excess of winter precipitation is +15.3‰. Winter Period albedos are typically >80%, and decreasing albedo is indicative of increasing water content in the snow(Maykut & Church, 1973).…”

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Timing and duration of hydrological transitions in Arctic polygonal ground from stable isotopes

Conroy

Newman

Heikoop

et al. 2019

Hydrological Processes

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Land surface models and Earth system models that include Arctic landscapes must capture the abrupt hydrological transitions that occur during the annual thaw and deepening of the active layer. In this work, stable water isotopes (δ 2 H and δ 18 O) are used to appraise hydrologically significant transitions during annual landscape thaw at the Barrow Environmental Observatory (Utqiaġvik, Alaska). These hydrologically significant periods are then linked to annual shifts in the landscape energy balance, deduced from meteorological data and described by the microclimatic periods: Winter, Pre-Melt, Melt, Post-Melt, Summer, and Freeze-Up. The tight coupling of the microclimatic periods with the hydrological transitions supports the use of microclimatic periods as a means of linking polygonal surface water hydrology to meteorological datasets, which provides a mechanism for improving the representation of polygonal surface water hydrology in process-based models. Rayleigh process reconstruction of the isotopic changes revealed that 19% of winter precipitation was lost to sublimation prior to melting and that 23% of surface water was lost to evaporation during the first 10 days post-melt. This agrees with evaporation rates reported in a separate study using an eddy covariance flux tower located nearby. An additional 17% was lost to evaporation during the next 33 days. Stable water isotopes are also used to identify the dominant sources of surface water to various hydrogeomorphological features prevalent in polygonal terrain (a lake, a low centre polygon centre, troughs within the rims of low centre polygons, flat centre polygon troughs, a high centre polygon trough, and drainages). Hydrogeomorphologies that retained significant old water or acted as snow drifts are isotopically distinct during the Melt Period and therefore are easily distinguished. Biogeochemical changes related to the annual thaw are also reported and coupled to the hydrological transitions, which provides insight into the sources and sinks of these ions to and from the landscape. K E Y W O R D SArctic Coastal Plain, arctic hydrology, Barrow, hydrological transitions, polygonal ground, stable water isotopes, tundra, Utqiaġvik

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Timing and duration of hydrological transitions in Arctic polygonal ground from stable isotopes

Conroy

Newman

Heikoop

et al. 2019

Hydrological Processes

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“…The stable isotopes of water ( 2 H and 18 O) are the most common components of natural water (Aragúas‐Aragúas, Froehlich, & Rozanski, ; Dansgaard, ). The relative abundance of stable water isotopes is an important signature for distinguishing water bodies and for characterizing the hydrological cycle (Grafenstein, Erlenkeuserb, Müllera, Trimborn, & Alefs, ; Throckmorton et al, ; Zhang, Guan, Zhang, Zhang, & Yao, ).…”

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Dual effects of precipitation and evaporation on lake water stable isotope composition in the monsoon region

Mingquan

Yao

Luo

et al. 2019

Hydrological Processes

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We present the results of a 3‐year monitoring programme of the stable isotope composition of lake water and precipitation at Taozi Lake, in the East Asian monsoon region of China. Our aims were to reveal the spatiotemporal pattern of variation of stable isotopes in a small closed‐basin lake and to quantitatively determine the impacts of precipitation and evaporation on the stable isotope composition of lake water under a humid monsoon climate. In the time domain, the stable oxygen isotopic ratio of the lake water (δ18OL) exhibited substantial seasonal and interannual variations, but the isotope variations between different precipitation events substantially exceeded seasonal and interannual variations. Compared with the stable isotopes in precipitation, δ18OL was substantially positive and dL was negative. In the space domains, the lake water was homogeneously mixed. Indicated by statistic analyses, precipitation plays a dominant role in dynamic of the lake stable isotope during precipitation events of relatively large magnitude, whereas the effect of evaporation is dominant during smaller precipitation events. Results advance our understanding of the stable isotope change rule in the process of lake water evaporation, and it is helpful to identify the climatic significance recorded in stable isotopic compositions of lake bottom sediments.

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“…Due to limited 25 drainage in the flat coastal plain, the frozen cores analyzed here are representative of field conditions for much of the thaw season. Water isotope analysis demonstrated that most water in the deep active layer comes from summer precipitation rather than seasonal ice melt (Throckmorton et al, 2016). Precipitation during September and October 2011 was above average for Barrow (http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/), suggesting a high water table during the winter freeze-up before we collected soil cores in early 2012.…”

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Impacts of temperature and soil characteristics on methane production and oxidation in Arctic polygonal tundra

Zheng¹,

Chowdhury²,

Yang³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Methane (CH 4 ) oxidation mitigates CH 4 emission from soils. However, it is still highly uncertain whether soils in highlatitude ecosystems will function as a net source or sink for this important greenhouse gas. We investigated CH 4 production and oxidation potential in permafrost-affected soils from degraded ice-wedge polygons with carbon-rich soils at the Barrow Environmental Observatory, Utqiaġvik (Barrow) Alaska, USA. Frozen soil cores from flat and high-centered polygons were 25 sectioned into active layers, transition zones, and permafrost, and incubated at -2, +4 and +8°C to determine potential CH 4 production and oxidation rates. Organic acids produced by fermentation fueled methanogenesis and competing iron reduction processes responsible for most anaerobic respiration. Significant CH 4 oxidation was observed from the suboxic transition zone and permafrost of flat-centered polygon soil, which also exhibited higher CH 4 production rates during the incubations. Although CH 4 production showed higher temperature sensitivity than CH 4 oxidation, potential rates of CH 4 30 oxidation exceeded methanogenesis rates at each temperature. Assuming no diffusion limitation, our results suggest that CH 4Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2017-566 Manuscript under review for journal Biogeosciences Discussion started: 29 January 2018 c Author(s) 2018. CC BY 4.0 License. 2 oxidation could offset CH 4 production and limit surface CH 4 emissions, in response to elevated temperature, and thus should be considered in model predictions of net CH 4 fluxes in Arctic polygonal tundra.

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Active layer hydrology in an arctic tundra ecosystem: quantifying water sources and cycling using water stable isotopes

Cited by 81 publications

References 66 publications

Timing and duration of hydrological transitions in Arctic polygonal ground from stable isotopes

Timing and duration of hydrological transitions in Arctic polygonal ground from stable isotopes

Dual effects of precipitation and evaporation on lake water stable isotope composition in the monsoon region

Impacts of temperature and soil characteristics on methane production and oxidation in Arctic polygonal tundra

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