Using stable isotopes to assess surface water source dynamics and hydrological connectivity in a high-latitude wetland and permafrost influenced landscape

Permafrost Boundary Shift in Western Siberia May Not Modify Dissolved Nutrient Concentrations in Rivers

“…Very flat lowlands, the abundance of bogs, and thick peat coverage lead to a broad peak of water flow, which lasts more than one month. Analyses of stable water isotopes in soil waters, lakes, and rivers in the Western Siberian Lowland on a large spatio-temporal scale along a 1700 km transect [47] demonstrated that (i) a small proportion of the water which contributed to rivers flow during the spring was released from melting snow; and (ii) the primary runoff generation mechanism in the WSL is the displacement of water already stored in the lakes, wetlands, and soils to rivers as shallow subsurface flow and suprapermafrost flow. For this reason, the exact timing of the freshet and the position of the sampling point at the river hydrograph are of secondary order importance for understanding the nutrient pathways in the riverine systems.…”

“…Indeed, the highly positive impact of the forest coverage of the watershed on nutrient (PO 4 , Si, P tot , K, Mn), CO 2 , DIC, and Ca concentrations in the permafrost-bearing zone may be due to feeding the rivers by shallow subsurface waters. These waters are present only in forested zones, typically along the river valley, where the permafrost is absent or its thickness is particularly low [40,47,54,55]. In such settings, the groundwaters that feed the river interact with mineral horizons and can be enriched in "mineral" nutrients such as P, Si, and K, whereas Mn may be mobilized in reduced form from Mn hydroxide nodules, abundant at the base of the sand horizon [48,56].…”

Using stable isotopes to estimate travel times in a data‐sparse Arctic catchment: Challenges and possible solutions

“…Full details of model equations, functionality, and discussion of assumptions and uncertainties are given in Ala‐aho, Tetzlaff, McNamara, Laudon, Kormos, et al (). The snowpack isotope model has been successfully coupled with the spatially distributed, tracer‐aided rainfall–run‐off model STARR (spatially distributed tracer‐aided rainfall–run‐off model; van Huijgevoort et al, ) to simulate the isotope ratios of streamflow in a range of northern snowmelt influenced catchments (Ala‐aho, Soulsby, et al, ).…”

“…This makes environmental tracers, particularly stable isotopes, potentially useful tools for hydrological monitoring. Tracers provide integrated insight into the hydrological functioning of catchments and have been used previously to assess water sources and flow paths in Arctic and permafrost settings (Ala‐aho, Soulsby, et al, ; Blaen, Hannah, Brown, & Milner, ; Lamhonwah, Lafrenière, Lamoureux, & Wolfe, ; Obradovic & Sklash, ; Song et al, ; Yi et al, ). In addition to their capacity to quantify water provenance, flow paths, and transit times, tracer studies provide insights for calibration and testing more detailed conceptual and numerical models at different spatial scales (Ala‐aho, Tetzlaff, McNamara, Laudon, & Soulsby, ; Birkel, Soulsby, & Tetzlaff, ; Soulsby et al, ; Stadnyk, Delavau, Kouwen, & Edwards, ; van Huijgevoort, Tetzlaff, Sutanudjaja, & Soulsby, ).…”

Global Isotope Hydrogeology―Review

“…Relative to their areas, tropical and high‐latitude lands are underrepresented in the primary literature, whereas northern mid‐latitude catchments are overrepresented. Recent works are ameliorating this by studying tropical (Jacobs et al, ), high‐elevation, and high‐latitude systems (e.g., Ala‐aho et al, , ; Ren et al, ; Tetzlaff et al, ; Yi et al, ). Continuing streamflow, groundwater, and precipitation isotopic data set development in these regions may help to monitor consequences of atmospheric warming on hydrologic processes (Lyon et al, ; Wilusz et al, ).…”