Project Funding: 2015 - 2019

NRA: 2014 NASA: Terrestrial Ecology   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
Water is key to all ecosystem functions, including the carbon (C) cycle. Additionally, rates of C biogeochemical processing are commonly much greater in inland waters than terrestrial landscapes, as they collectively store C in sediments, export C to oceans, and emit carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. Terrestrial ecosystems are a dominant source of C to inland waters through surface and subsurface drainage networks. These networks are changing across boreal and arctic regions, as permafrost thaw, climate warming, and fire create new conduits for water movement, change vegetative water use and evapotranspiration, and alter the distribution of water on the landscape. It is imperative that we understand the dynamics of these changes in the water cycle if we are to understand and accurately project the effects of climate warming and other environmental drivers on circumboreal and arctic ecosystems. We propose an integrated interdisciplinary research campaign to evaluate the vulnerability of boreal landscapes to change in the 'plumbing' that controls water movement and distribution, change in the source and chemical composition of C delivered to inland waters, and change in the rates and processes that control organic and inorganic C processing by inland waters and their emissions of CO2 and CH4 to the atmosphere. Our approach recognizes that permafrost thaw will not only enhance groundwater flow and the development of subsurface connectivity, but that loss of subsurface ice will also change the structure of the land surface, creating thermokarst features in some areas and initiating lake loss or lake creation in others. It also recognizes that terrestrial sources of C to inland waters will change in response to thaw, fire and other drivers of change. These conditions will be evaluated by geophysical and ecosystem surveys with the goal of extrapolation across the boreal ABoVE domain through remote sensing analysis and mapping. Geophysical subsurface permafrost characterization via new ground and existing airborne surveys will provide the necessary framework for hydrologic field and modeling efforts to evaluate and project the effects of change in lateral connectivity on surface water flow, groundwater flow, and lake distribution. Permafrost thaw enhances groundwater flow, changes the seasonal distribution of streamflow, and alters lake budgets. However, the dynamics that control these changes are not completely understood, and critical baseline information on subsurface permafrost distribution is typically lacking. Using newly developed capabilities for cold regions, our proposed field and modeling approaches will help to fill these gaps in hydrologic understanding and will also inform on the routing of terrestrial C by flow systems to inland waters and the residence time of C in those systems. Source, routing, and residence time are imperative to understanding C dynamics in inland waters. We will determine C source and age through analyses of the 14C content of inorganic and organic C species and C-gas emissions. Molecular biomarkers, coupled with measured optical properties of DOC will inform on terrestrial versus autochthonous sources of aquatic C and on its potential for mineralization by biological or photo- degradation. Much of terrestrially-derived aquatic C is degraded before reaching surface waters, so hydrologic modeling of residence times will improve our understanding of where and when inland water C-gas emissions are expected to be greatest. Radiocarbon age of aquatic C will further delineate source and inform on if and where C derived from permafrost or ancient soil sources are delivered to inland waters. Finally, optical properties of water indicative of DOC concentration and composition will be related to remotely sensed lake color and to the potential for C-gas emission, with the goal of extrapolating inland water DOC composition and CO2 and CH4 emissions across the ABoVE domain.

Publications:

Bogard, M. J., Kuhn, C. D., Johnston, S. E., Striegl, R. G., Holtgrieve, G. W., Dornblaser, M. M., Spencer, R. G. M., Wickland, K. P., Butman, D. E. 2019. Negligible cycling of terrestrial carbon in many lakes of the arid circumpolar landscape. Nature Geoscience. 12(3), 180-185. DOI: 10.1038/s41561-019-0299-5

Carey, J. C., Gewirtzman, J., Johnston, S. E., Kurtz, A., Tang, J., Vieillard, A. M., Spencer, R. G. M. 2020. Arctic River Dissolved and Biogenic Silicon Exports--Current Conditions and Future Changes With Warming. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 34(3). DOI: 10.1029/2019GB006308

DATA RELEASE: Ebel, B.A., (2019), Soil thermal properties at recently burned and long-unburned boreal forest areas in interior Alaska, USA: U.S. Geological Survey data release, DOI: 10.5066/P9UF8MFI

Ebel, B. A., Koch, J. C., Walvoord, M. A. 2019. Soil Physical, Hydraulic, and Thermal Properties in Interior Alaska, USA: Implications for Hydrologic Response to Thawing Permafrost Conditions. Water Resources Research. 55(5), 4427-4447. DOI: 10.1029/2018WR023673

Johnston, S. E., Finlay, K., Spencer, R. G. M., Butman, D. E., Metz, M., Striegl, R., Bogard, M. J. 2021. Zooplankton release complex dissolved organic matter to aquatic environments. Biogeochemistry. 157(3), 313-325. DOI: 10.1007/s10533-021-00876-7

Johnston, S. E., Striegl, R. G., Bogard, M. J., Dornblaser, M. M., Butman, D. E., Kellerman, A. M., Wickland, K. P., Podgorski, D. C., Spencer, R. G. M. 2020. Hydrologic connectivity determines dissolved organic matter biogeochemistry in northern high-latitude lakes. Limnology and Oceanography. 65(8), 1764-1780. DOI: 10.1002/lno.11417

Kass, M. A., Irons, T. P., Minsley, B. J., Pastick, N. J., Brown, D. R. N., Wylie, B. K. 2017. In situ nuclear magnetic resonance response of permafrost and active layer soil in boreal and tundra ecosystems. The Cryosphere. 11(6), 2943-2955. DOI: 10.5194/tc-11-2943-2017

Koch, J. C., Bogard, M. J., Butman, D. E., Finlay, K., Ebel, B., James, J., Johnston, S. E., Jorgenson, M. T., Pastick, N. J., Spencer, R. G. M., Striegl, R., Walvoord, M., Wickland, K. P. 2022. Heterogeneous Patterns of Aged Organic Carbon Export Driven by Hydrologic Flow Paths, Soil Texture, Fire, and Thaw in Discontinuous Permafrost Headwaters. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 36(4). DOI: 10.1029/2021GB007242

Kuhn, C., Bogard, M., Johnston, S. E., John, A., Vermote, E., Spencer, R., Dornblaser, M., Wickland, K., Striegl, R., Butman, D. 2020. Satellite and airborne remote sensing of gross primary productivity in boreal Alaskan lakes. Environmental Research Letters. 15(10), 105001. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aba46f

Pastick, N. J., Duffy, P., Genet, H., Rupp, T. S., Wylie, B. K., Johnson, K. D., Jorgenson, M. T., Bliss, N., McGuire, A. D., Jafarov, E. E., Knight, J. F. 2017. Historical and projected trends in landscape drivers affecting carbon dynamics in Alaska. Ecological Applications. 27(5), 1383-1402. DOI: 10.1002/eap.1538

Pastick, N. J., Jorgenson, M. T., Goetz, S. J., Jones, B. M., Wylie, B. K., Minsley, B. J., Genet, H., Knight, J. F., Swanson, D. K., Jorgenson, J. C. 2018. Spatiotemporal remote sensing of ecosystem change and causation across Alaska. Global Change Biology. 25(3), 1171-1189. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14279

Rey, D. M., Walvoord, M. A., Minsley, B. J., Ebel, B. A., Voss, C. I., Singha, K. 2020. Wildfire-Initiated Talik Development Exceeds Current Thaw Projections: Observations and Models From Alaska's Continuous Permafrost Zone. Geophysical Research Letters. 47(15). DOI: 10.1029/2020GL087565

Rey, D. M., Walvoord, M., Minsley, B., Rover, J., Singha, K. 2019. Investigating lake-area dynamics across a permafrost-thaw spectrum using airborne electromagnetic surveys and remote sensing time-series data in Yukon Flats, Alaska. Environmental Research Letters. 14(2), 025001. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aaf06f

Walvoord, M. A., Striegl, R. G. 2021. Complex Vulnerabilities of the Water and Aquatic Carbon Cycles to Permafrost Thaw. Frontiers in Climate. 3. DOI: 10.3389/fclim.2021.730402

Walvoord, M. A., Voss, C. I., Ebel, B. A., Minsley, B. J. 2019. Development of perennial thaw zones in boreal hillslopes enhances potential mobilization of permafrost carbon. Environmental Research Letters. 14(1), 015003. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aaf0cc

Wickland, K. P., Waldrop, M. P., Aiken, G. R., Koch, J. C., Jorgenson, M. T., Striegl, R. G. 2018. Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen release from boreal Holocene permafrost and seasonally frozen soils of Alaska. Environmental Research Letters. 13(6), 065011. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aac4ad

Walvoord, M. A., Kurylyk, B. L. 2016. Hydrologic Impacts of Thawing Permafrost-A Review. Vadose Zone Journal. 15(6), vzj2016.01.0010. DOI: 10.2136/vzj2016.01.0010

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Project Profile
• North American Carbon Program (NACP) Project Profile
• NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Project Profile