Perched Peatlands: insights into eco-hydrologic roles of peatlands in water limited boreal environments

Author(s):  
Kevin J Devito ◽  
Lindsay M James ◽  
Daniel S Alessi ◽  
Kelly Hokanson ◽  
Nick Kettridge ◽  
...  

<p>Peatlands are integral to sustaining landscape eco-hydrological function in water-limited boreal landscapes and serve as important water sources for headwater streams and surrounding forests, and recently for mega-scale watershed construction associated with resource extraction. Despite the regional moisture deficit of the Boreal plains, peatlands and margin swamps exist on topographic highs where low permeability (clogging) layers occur proximal to the surface and are apparently isolated from surface water and local and regional groundwater inputs. The <span>water generating mechanisms (</span>external water sources, internal feedback mechanisms) that<span> enable peatland formation with such </span>delicate water balances<span> in these </span>unique hydrogeologic settings are not well known, and have large implications for understanding the eco-hydrologic role of natural peatlands as well as direct peatland construction in drier boreal landscapes.</p><p>A multi-year sampling campaign was conducted to collect hydrometric, geochemical (DOC, pH, major cations and anions), and isotopic (D/H, <sup>18</sup>O/<sup>16</sup>O) data from a small isolated peatland-margin swamp complex. We explored the relative roles of margin swamps in buffering water loss and generating perched groundwater, shading and wind protection from adjacent forests, snow redistribution in and around the peatland, and wetland feedbacks on maintenance of peatland moisture and ecosystem function. Long-term (18 year) records of water table gradients between the peatland and an adjacent forest combined with 3 year high intensity <!-- Not sure if you mean to separate the long term data from the high intensity data from Lindsey’s project -->water balance calculations show the peatland to be a source of water to adjacent forests during this period and illustrate the dominance of autogenic wetland feedbacks over allogenic controls (external sources) in peatland development at this location. Contrasts in water storage due to the morphometry <!-- Morphometry? -->of the clogging layer appear to the dominant determinants of peatland and swamp form and function. Layers of decomposed peat and fine textured mineral soils in margin swamps with low water storage potential promoted frequent soil saturation and anoxia, limiting forest vegetation growth and water uptake, further enhancing wetland vegetation, water conservation and generation within the wetland complex. Shading and wind protection from adjacent forests appear to influence soil frost duration and atmospheric demand to further reduce evapotranspiration losses contributing to a slight moisture surplus in the wetland complex relative to the adjacent forest. Understanding the water balance and moisture surplus controls in isolated peatlands sheds light on the relative role of allogenic and autogenic controls on peatlands with implications for: 1) assessing regional eco-hydrological roles of peatland and forestland covers, 2) predicting landscape-scale response to environmental change and land use, and 3) directing landscape scale reclamation or large reconstruction projects over a range of geologic settings in water-limited boreal regions.</p>

Author(s):  
Vadim Yapiyev ◽  
Kanat Samarkhanov ◽  
Dauren Zhumabayev ◽  
Nazym Tulegenova ◽  
Saltanat Jumassultanova ◽  
...  

Both climate change and anthropogenic activities contribute to the deterioration of terrestrial water resources and ecosystems worldwide. Central Asian endorheic basins are among the most affected regions through both climate and human impacts. Here, we used a digital elevation model, digitized bathymetry maps and Landsat images to estimate the areal water cover extent and volumetric storage changes in small terminal lakes in Burabay National Nature Park (BNNP), located in Northern Central Asia (CA), for the period of 1986 to 2016. Based on the analysis of long-term climatic data from meteorological stations, short-term hydrometeorological network observations, gridded climate datasets (CRU) and global atmospheric reanalysis (ERA Interim), we have evaluated the impacts of historical climatic conditions on the water balance of BNNP lake catchments. We also discuss the future based on regional climate model projections. We attribute the overall decline of BNNP lakes to long-term deficit of water balance with lake evaporation loss exceeding precipitation inputs. Direct anthropogenic water abstraction has a minor importance in water balance. However, the changes in watersheds caused by the expansion of human settlements and roads disrupting water drainage may play a more significant role in lake water storage decline. More precise water resources assessment at the local scale will be facilitated by further development of freely available higher spatial resolution remote sensing products. In addition, the results of this work can be used for the development of lake/reservoir evaporation models driven by remote sensing and atmospheric reanalysis data without the direct use of ground observations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 3167-3182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Güntner ◽  
Marvin Reich ◽  
Michal Mikolaj ◽  
Benjamin Creutzfeldt ◽  
Stephan Schroeder ◽  
...  

Abstract. In spite of the fundamental role of the landscape water balance for the Earth's water and energy cycles, monitoring the water balance and its components beyond the point scale is notoriously difficult due to the multitude of flow and storage processes and their spatial heterogeneity. Here, we present the first field deployment of an iGrav superconducting gravimeter (SG) in a minimized enclosure for long-term integrative monitoring of water storage changes. Results of the field SG on a grassland site under wet–temperate climate conditions were compared to data provided by a nearby SG located in the controlled environment of an observatory building. The field system proves to provide gravity time series that are similarly precise as those of the observatory SG. At the same time, the field SG is more sensitive to hydrological variations than the observatory SG. We demonstrate that the gravity variations observed by the field setup are almost independent of the depth below the terrain surface where water storage changes occur (contrary to SGs in buildings), and thus the field SG system directly observes the total water storage change, i.e., the water balance, in its surroundings in an integrative way. We provide a framework to single out the water balance components actual evapotranspiration and lateral subsurface discharge from the gravity time series on annual to daily timescales. With about 99 and 85 % of the gravity signal due to local water storage changes originating within a radius of 4000 and 200 m around the instrument, respectively, this setup paves the road towards gravimetry as a continuous hydrological field-monitoring technique at the landscape scale.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2249-2266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Steiger ◽  
Kerim H. Nisancioglu ◽  
Henning Åkesson ◽  
Basile de Fleurian ◽  
Faezeh M. Nick

Abstract. Rapid retreat of Greenland's marine-terminating glaciers coincides with regional warming trends, which have broadly been used to explain these rapid changes. However, outlet glaciers within similar climate regimes experience widely contrasting retreat patterns, suggesting that the local fjord geometry could be an important additional factor. To assess the relative role of climate and fjord geometry, we use the retreat history of Jakobshavn Isbræ, West Greenland, since the Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum in 1850 as a baseline for the parameterization of a depth- and width-integrated ice flow model. The impact of fjord geometry is isolated by using a linearly increasing climate forcing since the LIA and testing a range of simplified geometries. We find that the total length of retreat is determined by external factors – such as hydrofracturing, submarine melt and buttressing by sea ice – whereas the retreat pattern is governed by the fjord geometry. Narrow and shallow areas provide pinning points and cause delayed but rapid retreat without additional climate warming, after decades of grounding line stability. We suggest that these geometric pinning points may be used to locate potential sites for moraine formation and to predict the long-term response of the glacier. As a consequence, to assess the impact of climate on the retreat history of a glacier, each system has to be analyzed with knowledge of its historic retreat and the local fjord geometry.


2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1844-1860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josie Geris ◽  
Doerthe Tetzlaff ◽  
Jeffrey McDonnell ◽  
Chris Soulsby

1973 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. S. ZEKTZER

The methods for quantitatively estimating ground-water discharge to the Baltic Sea and the possibilities of applying these methods to investigations of the role of ground water in the water and salt balances of the Baltic Sea are discussed. The combined hydrological and hydrogeological method, the hydrodynamic method, and the method of the average long-term water balance of recharge areas are recommended for general quantitative estimation of ground-water discharge to the sea. Data on the ground-water discharge to the Baltic Sea from the zone of intensive circulation (relatively shallow aquifers) within the U.S.S.R. are presented. Certain conclusions are drawn, and objectives of future investigations are mentioned.


2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (72) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kuhn ◽  
Kay Helfricht ◽  
Martin Ortner ◽  
Johannes Landmann ◽  
Wolfgang Gurgiser

ABSTRACTThe retention and release of liquid water in glacierized basins was modelled with a conceptual, semi-distributed model of the water and ice balance designed for long-term averages with monthly resolution for 100 m elevation bands. Here we present the components of the liquid water balance of 86 mostly glacierized basins on either side of the main Alpine divide between 10 and 13°E in the period 1998–2006 and compare them with the records of 30 basins monitored from 1970 to 1997. Basin average of liquid water retention has maxima in excess of 100 mm per month in May, often followed by maximum release when the retaining snow matrix melts. Glacier storage peaks in August partly due to ice melt and the ensuing filling of the englacial reservoirs and partly on account of a precipitation maximum. These two components combined to a common maximum of storage in summer in the first period 1970–97 and developed two distinct maxima in the warmer period 1998–2006. A further maximum of liquid water storage that was often found in October is most likely due to a peak in precipitation in the southern part of the study region.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanrong Meng

<p>Plastic mulching is a common farming practice in arid and semi-arid regions. Inappropriate disposal of plastic films can lead to the contamination of macroplastics (MaPs) and microplastics (MiPs) in the soil. To study the effects of plastic mulching on the contamination of soil with MaPs and MiPs and the role of farm management on this contamination, research was done on two farming systems in Northwest China, where plastic mulching is intensively used. Farming in Wutong Village (S1) is characterized by small plots and low-intensity machinery tillage while farming in Shihezi (S2) is characterized by large plots and high-intensity machinery tillage. Soils were sampled to a depth of 30 cm and analysed. The results showed that MaPs ranged from 30.3 kg·ha<sup>-1</sup> to 82.3 kg·ha<sup>-1</sup> in S1 and from 43.5 kg·ha<sup>-1</sup> to 148 kg·ha<sup>-1</sup> in S2. The main macroplastics  size categories were 2-10 cm<sup>2</sup> and 10-50 cm<sup>2</sup> in S1 and  < 2 cm<sup>2</sup> and 2-10 cm<sup>2</sup> in S2. In S1, we found that 6-8 years of continuous mulching practice resulted in the accumulation of more MaPs as compared to the use of intermittent mulching over the span of 30 years. For S2,  6 to 15 years of plastic mulching use led to MaPs accumulation in fields but from 15 to18 years, the MaPs number and content in soils dropped due to further fragmentation of the plastic and its dispersal into the environment. MiPs were mainly detected in fields with > 30 years of mulching use in S1 and discovered in all fields in S2, this indicated that  long-term cultivation and high-intensity machinery tillage could lead to more severe microplastic pollution. These results emphasized the impacts of  farm management on the accumulation and spread of MaPs and MiPs in the soil and regulations are needed to prevent further contamination of the soil.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 3003
Author(s):  
Nicolas Hugues ◽  
Christophe Pellegrino ◽  
Claudio Rivera ◽  
Eric Berton ◽  
Caroline Pin-Barre ◽  
...  

Stroke-induced cognitive impairments affect the long-term quality of life. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is now considered a promising strategy to enhance cognitive functions. This review is designed to examine the role of HIIT in promoting neuroplasticity processes and/or cognitive functions after stroke. The various methodological limitations related to the clinical relevance of studies on the exercise recommendations in individuals with stroke are first discussed. Then, the relevance of HIIT in improving neurotrophic factors expression, neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity is debated in both stroke and healthy individuals (humans and rodents). Moreover, HIIT may have a preventive role on stroke severity, as found in rodents. The potential role of HIIT in stroke rehabilitation is reinforced by findings showing its powerful neurogenic effect that might potentiate cognitive benefits induced by cognitive tasks. In addition, the clinical role of neuroplasticity observed in each hemisphere needs to be clarified by coupling more frequently to cellular/molecular measurements and behavioral testing.


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