TY - JOUR
T1 - Degrading permafrost river catchments and their impact on Arctic Ocean nearshore processes
AU - Mann, Paul
AU - Strauss, Jens
AU - Palmtag, Juri
AU - Dowdy, Kelsey
AU - Ogneva, Olga
AU - Fuchs, Matthias
AU - Bedington, Michael
AU - Torres, Ricardo
AU - Polimene, Luca
AU - Overduin, Paul
AU - Mollenhauer, Gesine
AU - Grosse, Guido
AU - Rachold, Volker
AU - Sobczak, William V.
AU - Spencer, Robert G. M.
AU - Juhls, Bennet
N1 - Funding information: This work is embedded into the Changing Arctic Ocean (CAO) program (lead by the NERC-BMBF project CACOON [NE/R012806/1 (UKRI NERC) and #03F0806A (BMBF)]. This work was partly funded by the U.S. NSF (National Science Foundation, ANT-1203885/PLR-1500169) grants to RGMS. We thank the NSF POLARIS project ( https://www.thepolarisproject.org ; 0732944 and 1044610) and participants for Kolyma bioreactivity measurements and sample collection. Figure was drawn by Yves Nowak (AWI), Fig. by Sebastian Laboor (AWI). For fieldwork support, we want to thank the Samoylov Research Station and the Northeast Science Station and teams, especially Sergei and Nikita Zimov.
PY - 2022/2/1
Y1 - 2022/2/1
N2 - Arctic warming is causing ancient perennially frozen ground (permafrost) to thaw, resulting in ground collapse, and reshaping of landscapes. This threatens Arctic peoples' infrastructure, cultural sites, and land-based natural resources. Terrestrial permafrost thaw and ongoing intensification of hydrological cycles also enhance the amount and alter the type of organic carbon (OC) delivered from land to Arctic nearshore environments. These changes may affect coastal processes, food web dynamics and marine resources on which many traditional ways of life rely. Here, we examine how future projected increases in runoff and permafrost thaw from two permafrost-dominated Siberian watersheds - the Kolyma and Lena, may alter carbon turnover rates and OC distributions through river networks. We demonstrate that the unique composition of terrestrial permafrost-derived OC can cause significant increases to aquatic carbon degradation rates (20 to 60% faster rates with 1% permafrost OC). We compile results on aquatic OC degradation and examine how strengthening Arctic hydrological cycles may increase the connectivity between terrestrial landscapes and receiving nearshore ecosystems, with potential ramifications for coastal carbon budgets and ecosystem structure. To address the future challenges Arctic coastal communities will face, we argue that it will become essential to consider how nearshore ecosystems will respond to changing coastal inputs and identify how these may affect the resiliency and availability of essential food resources.
AB - Arctic warming is causing ancient perennially frozen ground (permafrost) to thaw, resulting in ground collapse, and reshaping of landscapes. This threatens Arctic peoples' infrastructure, cultural sites, and land-based natural resources. Terrestrial permafrost thaw and ongoing intensification of hydrological cycles also enhance the amount and alter the type of organic carbon (OC) delivered from land to Arctic nearshore environments. These changes may affect coastal processes, food web dynamics and marine resources on which many traditional ways of life rely. Here, we examine how future projected increases in runoff and permafrost thaw from two permafrost-dominated Siberian watersheds - the Kolyma and Lena, may alter carbon turnover rates and OC distributions through river networks. We demonstrate that the unique composition of terrestrial permafrost-derived OC can cause significant increases to aquatic carbon degradation rates (20 to 60% faster rates with 1% permafrost OC). We compile results on aquatic OC degradation and examine how strengthening Arctic hydrological cycles may increase the connectivity between terrestrial landscapes and receiving nearshore ecosystems, with potential ramifications for coastal carbon budgets and ecosystem structure. To address the future challenges Arctic coastal communities will face, we argue that it will become essential to consider how nearshore ecosystems will respond to changing coastal inputs and identify how these may affect the resiliency and availability of essential food resources.
KW - Arctic rivers
KW - Carbon cycle
KW - Carbon fluxes
KW - Erosion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85120311057&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s13280-021-01666-z
DO - 10.1007/s13280-021-01666-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 34850356
SN - 0044-7447
VL - 51
SP - 439
EP - 455
JO - Ambio
JF - Ambio
IS - 2
ER -