Abstract
Abstract. Using a 15 year stream record from a northern boreal catchment, we demonstrate that the inter-annual variation in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations during snowmelt was related to discharge, winter climate and previous DOC export. A short and intense snowmelt gave higher stream water DOC concentrations, as did long winters, while a high previous DOC export during the antecedent summer and autumn resulted in lower concentrations during the following spring. By removing the effect of discharge we could detect that the length of winter affected the modeled soil water DOC concentrations during the following snowmelt period, which in turn affected the concentrations in the stream. Winter climate explained more of the stream water DOC variations than previous DOC export during the antecedent summer and autumn.
Highlights
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a fundamental descriptor of biogeochemical processes in small catchments and affects biogeochemical processes (Kalbitz et al, 2000), food web structure (Jansson et al, 2007) and the carbon balance (Cole et al, 2007; Nilsson et al, 2008)
After removal of the hydrological effect on stream DOC concentrations during snowmelt, we investigated if hydrology still explained part of the residual DOC concentrations or if we had removed the effect of hydrology
We found a large inter-annual variation in the spring flood DOC concentrations (Fig. 4)
Summary
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a fundamental descriptor of biogeochemical processes in small catchments and affects biogeochemical processes (Kalbitz et al, 2000), food web structure (Jansson et al, 2007) and the carbon balance (Cole et al, 2007; Nilsson et al, 2008). Given the large amount of runoff in the northern latitude catchments during this period, it is important to better understand what controls DOC concentrations at the transition period from winter to summer. Regional climate models suggests that the temperature and precipitation will increase most in northern latitudes and during the winter months (Christensen et al, 2007). How this will affect the stream DOC concentrations and exports during snowmelt in the future is not well understood
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