Hydrological and hydrochemical observation status in the pan-Arctic drainage basin

Abstract

In order to identify and understand the ongoing changes in the Arctic hydrological cycle, and the impacts on the Arctic Ocean, timely and open access to water and water-chemistry data is essential. By synthesizing and analysing all openly accessible water-discharge and water-quality data, we present an updated, quantitative picture of the status of observational data on hydrological and hydrochemical fluxes from the pan-Arctic drainage basin (PADB) to the ocean. We identify and compare the characteristics of monitored and unmonitored areas, and the differences between them, across the continents in the PADB. Results indicate significant gaps in monitoring data for water chemistry, in particular for high-latitude near-coastal areas. The differences in characteristics between monitored and unmonitored areas may bias assessments of hydrological and hydrochemical fluxes to the Arctic Ocean. The reliable identification and understanding of important biogeochemical processes in the PADB require extended monitoring, particularly in high-latitude permafrost ground, and more ready access to harmonized and integrated hydrochemical data.

Relevance of Hydro-Climatic Change Projection and Monitoring for Assessment of Water Cycle Changes in the Arctic

“…In a recent study, Bring and Destouni (2009) assessed the present runoff monitoring status in the pan-Arctic drainage basin, showing it to be quite limited. To also determine whether and how the distribution of runoff monitoring stations across the pan-Arctic drainage basin has changed in relation to observed and projected climate changes, we analyzed here the development of the monitoring network density, expressed as number of stations per 100,000 km 2 , in the studied river basins.…”

Integrated assessment of changes in freshwater inflow to the Arctic Ocean

“…This finding indicates that the discharge changes identified for the basins in this study should also be representative of discharge changes in the unmonitored 24% of the CCP, which was not included in the present analysis. However, it is advised to use caution in extrapolating results to ungauged areas, because several hydrologically relevant characteristics show significant bias between monitored and unmonitored areas [Bring and Destouni, 2009].…”

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

“…These include decreasing depth and duration of snowcover (Brown and Braaten, 1998;Curtis et al, 1998), permafrost warming and thawing (Stieglitz et al, 2003;Walvoord and Striegl, 2007;Osterkamp, 2007), increasing precipitation frequency and amount (Walsh, 2000; Correspondence to: S. W. Lyon (steve.lyon@natgeo.su.se) McCabe et al, 2001), increasing freshwater discharge (Peterson et al, 2002) and earlier spring flood peak discharges . The terrestrial freshwater cycle in the arctic and sub-arctic is often intimately connected with the presence of permafrost (White et al, 2007;Woo et al, 2008) and the depth to the permafrost largely determines the pathways of water flow through the landscape (Kane et al, 1981).…”

“…Field-based identification of flow pathways and quantification of the travel time of water along such flow pathways, however, is difficult both in terms of collection of appropriate data and in terms of interpretation. As hydrological mass transport remains poorly investigated at northern latitudes (Hannerz and Destouni, 2006;Bring and Destouni, 2009), an empirical identification of the main solute sources and transport pathways is difficult (Destouni et al, 2008a, b). One option is to estimate the distributions of solute travel times along different flow and transport pathways through catchments using physically-based modeling approaches (e.g., Darracq et al, 2009).…”