TY - JOUR

T1 - Heterogenous runoff trends in peatland-dominated basins throughout the circumpolar north

AU - Mack, Mikhail

AU - Connon, Ryan

AU - Makarieva, Olga

AU - McLaughlin, James

AU - Nesterova, Nataliia

AU - Quinton, William

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

PY - 2021/7/1

Y1 - 2021/7/1

N2 - The hydrological implications of discontinuous permafrost thaw in peatland-dominated basins are not well understood. While there is evidence suggesting that permafrost-thaw-driven land cover change increases annual runoff and the runoff ratio in the Taiga Plains of northwestern Canada, few studies have evaluated the impact on small to medium sized basins (<105 km2) outside this ecoregion. Here, we assess runoff, runoff ratio, and precipitation trends for 34 peatland-dominated basins, of which 28 are in the discontinuous and sporadic permafrost zones and 6 in adjacent permafrost-free environments. We calculated annual and monthly trends between 1970 and 2016 using the Mann-Kendall test and found that annual runoff, runoff ratio, and precipitation increased significantly in 25%, 16%, and 13% of basins respectively, at a 5% significance level, and decreased significantly in 3%, 19%, and 9% of basins, respectively. Increased annual runoff ratios occurred exclusively in basins overlying permafrost, while increases and decreases in annual runoff and precipitation were found in both permafrost and permafrost-free basins. Increases of annual runoff and runoff ratio occurred independently of precipitation changes in only the Taiga Plains and in the Western Siberian Plain. Runoff during winter increased significantly in all ecoregions and occurred independently of the areal extent of permafrost, although the magnitude of these increases was small compared with those of April and May.

AB - The hydrological implications of discontinuous permafrost thaw in peatland-dominated basins are not well understood. While there is evidence suggesting that permafrost-thaw-driven land cover change increases annual runoff and the runoff ratio in the Taiga Plains of northwestern Canada, few studies have evaluated the impact on small to medium sized basins (<105 km2) outside this ecoregion. Here, we assess runoff, runoff ratio, and precipitation trends for 34 peatland-dominated basins, of which 28 are in the discontinuous and sporadic permafrost zones and 6 in adjacent permafrost-free environments. We calculated annual and monthly trends between 1970 and 2016 using the Mann-Kendall test and found that annual runoff, runoff ratio, and precipitation increased significantly in 25%, 16%, and 13% of basins respectively, at a 5% significance level, and decreased significantly in 3%, 19%, and 9% of basins, respectively. Increased annual runoff ratios occurred exclusively in basins overlying permafrost, while increases and decreases in annual runoff and precipitation were found in both permafrost and permafrost-free basins. Increases of annual runoff and runoff ratio occurred independently of precipitation changes in only the Taiga Plains and in the Western Siberian Plain. Runoff during winter increased significantly in all ecoregions and occurred independently of the areal extent of permafrost, although the magnitude of these increases was small compared with those of April and May.

KW - Circumpolar

KW - Peatland-dominated basin

KW - Permafrost

KW - Runoff

KW - Runoff ratio

KW - CANADA

KW - THERMAL STATE

KW - runoff

KW - BOREAL FOREST

KW - peatland-dominated basin

KW - DISCONTINUOUS PERMAFROST

KW - THAW

KW - runoff ratio

KW - permafrost

KW - STREAMFLOW

KW - ORGANIC-CARBON

KW - HIGH-RESOLUTION

KW - circumpolar

KW - WETLANDS

KW - HYDROLOGY

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111666709&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/38ea0603-566e-3b87-b15e-07bd9da47370/

U2 - 10.1088/2515-7620/ac11ed

DO - 10.1088/2515-7620/ac11ed

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85111666709

VL - 3

JO - Environmental Research Communications

JF - Environmental Research Communications

SN - 2515-7620

IS - 7

M1 - 075006

ER -