Transfer of terrestrial carbon to and processing within drainage basins

Peter Raymond, Yale University, peter.raymond@yale.edu (Presenter)

The mass of biogeochemical relevant elements transported from the continents to the ocean is relatively well constrained. Although there is room for improvement, by sampling the top 30 rivers with respect to discharge >50% of the total riverine global discharge is appraised. The inland water community is demonstrating that inland waters are also active sites of processing and storage. For this to be true, the movement of elements off the terrestrial landscape has to be considerably higher than the amount making it to the sea. This talk will focus on current efforts to understand the input of elements, particularly carbon, to inland waters and the degree of processing during transport to the sea. Particular attention will be given to methods for scaling inland waters and the role of event driven fluxes.

Presentation: 2015_Apr20_PM_Raymond_14.pdf (9341k)

Presentation Type:  Plenary Talk

Session:  Theme 2: Landscapes to coasts: understanding Earth system connections

Presentation Time:  Mon 2:30 PM  (22 minutes)