Abstract
Climate change is expected to alter hydrological and biogeochemical processes in high-latitude inland waters. A critical question for understanding contemporary and future responses to environmental change is how the spatio-temporal dynamics of runoff generation processes will be affected. We sampled stable water isotopes in soils, lakes and rivers on an unprecedented spatio-temporal scale along a 1700 km transect over three years in the Western Siberia Lowlands. Our findings suggest that snowmelt mixes with, and displaces, large volumes of water stored in the organic soils and lakes to generate runoff during the thaw season. Furthermore, we saw a persistent hydrological connection between water bodies and the landscape across permafrost regions. Our findings help to bridge the understanding between small and large scale hydrological studies in high-latitude systems. These isotope data provide a means to conceptualise hydrological connectivity in permafrost and wetland influenced regions, which is needed for an improved understanding of future biogeochemical changes.
Highlights
High-latitude regions are experiencing alarming hydrological changes as a consequence of global climate change (IPCC, 2014; Tetzlaff et al, 2013; Walvoord and Kurylyk, 2016; White et al, 2007)
The unprecedented spatio-temporal scale of our stable water isotope sampling in the Western Siberian lowlands (WSL) allowed an improved conceptual understanding of dominant runoff generation processes and the hydrological connectivity in this wetland and permafrost-influenced landscape
Our findings suggest significant surface water storage capacity in the Western Siberia Lowlands (WSL) is involved in intensive isotopic mixing of snowmelt water and dictates that only a relatively small proportion of the water molecules released from melting snow contributed to rivers flow during the spring
Summary
High-latitude regions are experiencing alarming hydrological changes as a consequence of global climate change (IPCC, 2014; Tetzlaff et al, 2013; Walvoord and Kurylyk, 2016; White et al, 2007). In high-latitude regions air temperature is a crucial control for the cryogenic processes that play a key role in their energy and water balances (Woo et al, 2008; Wild, 2009). Recent literature reports accelerating rates of permafrost thaw, which is expected to have cascading effects on the high-latitude environment, river flow regimes and associated biogeochemical. Of particular importance is the amplified release of organic carbon due to permafrost thaw (Frey and Smith, 2005; Kuhry et al, 2010; Lessels et al, 2015; O’Donnell et al, 2012). The hydrological connections that determine carbon mobilization and fluxes in high-latitude watersheds remain inadequately understood (Yi et al, 2012; Zakharova et al, 2014)
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