Abstract
This study demonstrates the dependence between the forest burning rates and abnormal decrease in Siberian river discharges under the conditions of the permafrost zone. Our study area is in Central Siberia and Eastern Siberia/Yakutia. Four rivers (Podkamennaya Tunguska, Lower Tunguska, Aldan, and Viluy) were selected for the study. We analyzed the long-term and seasonal variation of river discharges (archive of The Global Runoff Data Centre for 1939–2015) together with the forest burning dynamics within the river basins (archive of Sukachev Institute of Forest for 1996–2015). We compared the discharges per year with the 77-year average value. Abnormally low levels of discharge constituted 58–78% of the averaged annual rate. An analysis of available chronologies of extreme fire events and relative burned areas (RBAs) showed a high correlation with intra-seasonal data on the runoff minima. The most significant response of river discharges to the wildfire effect was shown for the late summer/autumn season after extreme wildfires during the summer period. The deficit of the runoff was not explained by a low precipitation. Late summer and autumn anomalies of discharge were typical (r = −0.57…−0.77, p < 0.05) for rivers of Central Siberia in seasons of extreme forest burning. The correlation was lower for rivers of Eastern Siberia/Yakutia.
Highlights
Along with summer and winter precipitation, the groundwater determines between 10% and25% of the total supply of Siberian rivers under conditions of permafrost [1]
We investigated the degree of dependence between the forest burning rates and the abnormal decrease in the Siberian river discharge under the conditions of the permafrost zone
Four rivers were selected for the study (Figure 1): the Lower Tunguska, Podkamennaya Tunguska (Basin District of Yenisey River), and Aldan, Viluy (Basin District of Lena River). Their basins are all forest-dominated and susceptible to fire. They differ in their groundwater supply character, which is limited by continuous permafrost and soil conditions
Summary
25% of the total supply of Siberian rivers under conditions of permafrost [1] This portion of supply is determined by the water-physical properties of the soil, and it is influenced by the type of vegetation and the state of the on-ground cover and tree stands [2,3]. Long-term temperature anomalies were evaluated postfire using remote sensing data [12] This affects the soil’s moisture content [11,15], as well the water supply and the flow regime of small and medium rivers. Such an effect was shown in the Interior Alaska region under similar nature and climate conditions [16]
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