scholarly journals Assessment of sediment and organic carbon exports into the Arctic ocean: The case of the Yenisei River basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 158 ◽  
pp. 118-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Fabre ◽  
S. Sauvage ◽  
N. Tananaev ◽  
G. Espitalier Noël ◽  
R. Teisserenc ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daria Polosukhina ◽  
Anatoly Prokushkin ◽  
Axel Steinhof

<p>There is the significant progress in recent decades in the quantification of terrigenous carbon release to the rivers of the Arctic Ocean basin and characterization of its chemical properties, origin and age (e.g. Amon et al., 2012, Holmes et al., 2012). As warming accelerates the thawing permafrost may potentially increase the release the ancient carbon (Wild et al., 2019, Estop-Aragonés et al., 2020). However, more detailed analysis is still needed particularly in regard of the age of carbon exported from the diverse landscapes of large Arctic rivers and its transformation during the transport to the Arctic ocean.</p><p>In this study we analyzed D14C in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) of the Yenisei River main channel and its major tributaries between 56oN and 68oN at freshet, summer and fall seasons. D14C was measured in Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (Germany) by the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system based on a 3MV Tandetron accelerator as described earlier (Steinhof et al., 2017).</p><p> The oldest DOC in the Yenisei main stem was detected right after the Krasnoyarsk dam (56oN) and varied during a year without clear seasonal pattern in the range of the fraction of modern C (fMC) from 0.868 to 1.028. At freshet the fMC increased down stream up to 1.12 at 60oN and then remained relatively stable between 61o and 67.4oN (1.097±0.014). The major tributaries released DOC with fMC ranging from 1.0869 (Angara, 58oN) to 1.1046 (Kurejka (66.5oN), demonstrating more modern C with latitude. During the summer-fall season the Yenisei main channel and main Eastern tributaries contained older DOC (fMC = 0.968-1.054 and 0.949-1.045, respectively).</p><p>The POC of the Yenisei River was sufficiently older (fMC = 0.83-0.92) than DOC at all seasons and showed similar latitudinal pattern, i.e. the youngest POC was detected near 60-61oN (fMC > 0.90). The D14C-POC values in analyzed tributaries were increasing with latitude at freshet (R2 = 0.53) and summer lowflow (R2 = 0.33), except the largest Eastern tributaries, demonstrating the slight opposite pattern. On the other hand, increasingly more ancient POC was releasing by permafrost-dominated Eastern tributaries with increasing basin size. In opposite, D14C-POC of Western tributaries showed increased input of more recently fixed carbon. Our findings provided new data on the formation of terrigenic carbon fluxes to the Arctic Ocean from one of the largest river basins in the Arctic. This study was supported by RFBR grants #18-05-60203-Arktika. The radiocarbon analyses were kindly supported by Max-Plank Institute for biogeochemistry (ZOTTO project).</p>


Author(s):  
Irina Panyushkina ◽  
David M Meko ◽  
Alexander Shiklomanov ◽  
Richard D Thaxton ◽  
Vladimyr Myglan ◽  
...  

Abstract The Yenisei River is the largest contributor of freshwater and energy fluxes among all rivers draining to the Arctic Ocean. Modeling long-term variability of Eurasian runoff to the Arctic Ocean is complicated by the considerable variability of river discharge in time and space, and the monitoring constraints imposed by a sparse gauged-flow network and paucity of satellite data. We quantify tree growth response to river discharge at the upper reaches of the Yenisei River in Tuva, South Siberia. Two regression models built from eight tree-ring width chronologies of Larix sibirica are applied to reconstruct winter (Nov–Apr) discharge for the period 1784-1997 (214 years), and annual (Oct–Sept) discharge for the period 1701–2000 (300 years). The Nov–Apr model explains 52% of the discharge variance whereas Oct–Sept explains 26% for the calibration intervals 1927–1997 and 1927-2000, respectively. This new hydrological archive doubles the length of the instrumental discharge record at the Kyzyl gauge and resets the temporal background of discharge variability back to 1784. The reconstruction finds a remarkable 80% upsurge in winter flow over the last 25 years, which is unprecedented in the last 214 years. In contrast, annual discharge fluctuated normally for this system, with only a 7% increase over the last 25 years. Water balance modeling with CRU data manifests a significant discrepancy between decadal variability of the gauged flow and climate data after 1960. We discuss the impact on the baseflow rate change of both the accelerating permafrost warming in the discontinuous zone of South Siberia and widespread forest fires. The winter discharge accounts for only one-third of the annual flow, yet the persistent 25-year upsurge is alarming. This trend is likely caused by Arctic Amplification, which can be further magnified by increased winter flow delivering significantly more freshwater to the Kara Sea during the cold season.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 544-552
Author(s):  
A. A. Vetrov ◽  
E. A. Romankevich

Particulate organic carbon (POC) is one of main component of carbon cycle in the Ocean. In this study an attempt to construct a picture of the distribution and fluxes of POC in the Arctic Ocean adjusting for interchange with the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans has been made. The specificity of this construction is associated with an irregular distribution of POC measurements and complicated structure and hydrodynamics of the waters masses. To overcome these difficulties, Multiple Linear Regression technic (MLR) was performed to test the significant relation between POC, temperature, salinity, as well depth, horizon, latitude and offshore distance. The mapping of POC distribution and its fluxes was carrying out at 38 horizons from 5 to 4150 m (resolution 1°×1°). Data on temperature, salinity, meridional and zonal components of current velocities were obtained from ORA S4 database (Integrated Climate Data Center, http://icdc.cen.uni-hamburg.de/las). The import-export of POC between the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as between Arctic Seas was precomputed by summer fluxes. The import of POC in the Arctic Ocean is estimated to be 38±8Tg Cyr-1, and the export is -9.5±4.4Tg Cyr-1.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 2093-2143 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. P. Semiletov ◽  
I. I. Pipko ◽  
N. E. Shakhova ◽  
O. V. Dudarev ◽  
S. P. Pugach ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Lena River integrates biogeochemical signals from its vast drainage basin and its signal reaches far out over the Arctic Ocean. Transformation of riverine organic carbon into mineral carbon, and mineral carbon into the organic form in the Lena River watershed, can be considered a quasi-equilibrated processes. Increasing the Lena discharge causes opposite effects on total organic (TOC) and inorganic (TCO2) carbon: TOC concentration increases, while TCO2 concentration decreases. Significant inter-annual variability in mean values of TCO2, TOC, and their sum (TC) has been found. This variability is determined by changes in land hydrology which cause differences in the Lena River discharge, because a negative correlation may be found between TC in September and mean discharge in August (a time shift of about one month is required for water to travel from Yakutsk to the Laptev Sea). Total carbon entering the sea with the Lena discharge is estimated to be almost 10 Tg C y−1. The annual Lena River discharge of particulate organic carbon (POC) may be equal to 0.38 Tg (moderate to high estimate). If we instead accept Lisytsin's (1994) statement concerning the precipitation of 85–95% of total particulate matter (PM) (and POC) on the marginal "filter", then only about 0.03–0.04 Tg of POC reaches the Laptev Sea from the Lena River. The Lena's POC export would then be two orders of magnitude less than the annual input of eroded terrestrial carbon onto the shelf of the Laptev and East Siberian seas, which is about 4 Tg. The Lena River is characterized by relatively high concentrations of primary greenhouse gases: CO2 and dissolved CH4. During all seasons the river is supersaturated in CO2 compared to the atmosphere: up to 1.5–2 fold in summer, and 4–5 fold in winter. This results in a narrow zone of significant CO2 supersaturation in the adjacent coastal sea. Spots of dissolved CH4 in the Lena delta channels may reach 100 nM, but the CH4 concentration decreases to 5–20 nM towards the sea, which suggests only a minor role of riverborne export of CH4 for the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) CH4 budget in coastal waters. Instead, the seabed appears to be the source that provides most of the CH4 to the Arctic Ocean.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 3551-3565 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Doxaran ◽  
E. Devred ◽  
M. Babin

Abstract. Global warming has a significant impact on the regional scale on the Arctic Ocean and surrounding coastal zones (i.e., Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia). The recent increase in air temperature has resulted in increased precipitation along the drainage basins of Arctic rivers. It has also directly impacted land and seawater temperatures with the consequence of melting permafrost and sea ice. An increase in freshwater discharge by main Arctic rivers has been clearly identified in time series of field observations. The freshwater discharge of the Mackenzie River has increased by 25% since 2003. This may have increased the mobilization and transport of various dissolved and particulate substances, including organic carbon, as well as their export to the ocean. The release from land to the ocean of such organic material, which has been sequestered in a frozen state since the Last Glacial Maximum, may significantly impact the Arctic Ocean carbon cycle as well as marine ecosystems. In this study we use 11 years of ocean color satellite data and field observations collected in 2009 to estimate the mass of terrestrial suspended solids and particulate organic carbon delivered by the Mackenzie River into the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean). Our results show that during the summer period, the concentration of suspended solids at the river mouth, in the delta zone and in the river plume has increased by 46, 71 and 33%, respectively, since 2003. Combined with the variations observed in the freshwater discharge, this corresponds to a more than 50% increase in the particulate (terrestrial suspended particles and organic carbon) export from the Mackenzie River into the Beaufort Sea.


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