Recent work demonstrates extensive nutrient exports from outlet glaciers of the Greenland Ice Sheet. In comparison, nutrient exports are poorly defined for deglaciated watersheds that were exposed during ice retreat and retain reactive comminuted glacial sediments. Nutrient exports from deglaciated watersheds may differ from glacial watersheds due to their longer exposure times, more mature chemical weathering, and ecosystem succession. To evaluate nutrient exports from glacial and deglaciated watersheds, we compare discharge and dissolved (<0.45 μm filtered) nutrient concentrations in two glacial and six non‐glacial streams in southwestern and southern Greenland. Glacial streams have orders of magnitude greater instantaneous discharge than non‐glacial streams but their specific discharges are more similar, differing by up to a factor of 10. Compared with non‐glacial streams, filtered water of glacial streams have on average (1) higher inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and PO4concentrations, lower Si concentrations, and Fe concentrations that are not statistically different; (2) higher DIN and PO4but lower Si specific yields; and (3) lower DIN/PO4, Si/DIN, and Fe/PO4ratios, but indistinguishable Fe/DIN. Maximum specific yields occur in early melt season prior to maximum solar radiation for non‐glacial streams, and in mid‐melt season as solar radiation wanes for proglacial streams. Impacts to coastal ecosystems from nutrient exports depend on suspended sediment loads and processing in the estuaries, but landscape exposure during glacial terminations should decrease DIN and dissolved PO4and increase dissolved Si exports, while increased meltwater runoff associated with future warming should increase DIN and dissolved PO4and decrease dissolved Si exports.
Riverine input of terrestrial dissolved organic matter (DOM) is an important component of the marine carbon cycle and drives net carbon dioxide production in coastal zones. DOM exports to the Arctic Ocean are likely to increase due to melting of permafrost and the Greenland Ice Sheet, but the quantity and quality of DOM exports from deglaciated watersheds in Greenland, as well as expected changes with future melting, are unknown. We compare DOM quantity and quality in Greenland over the melt seasons of 2017–2018 between two rivers directly draining the Greenland Ice Sheet (meltwater rivers) and four streams draining deglaciated catchments that are disconnected from the ice (nonglacial streams). We couple these data with discharge records to compare dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exports. DOM sources and quality differ significantly between watershed types: fluorescence characteristics and organic molar C:N ratios suggest that DOM from deglaciated watersheds is derived from terrestrial vegetation and soil organic matter, while that in glacial watersheds contains greater proportions of algal and/or freshly produced biomass and may be more reactive. DOC specific yield is similar for nonglacial streams (0.1–1.2 Mg/km2/year) compared to a glacial meltwater river (0.2–1.1 Mg/km2/year), despite orders of magnitude differences in instantaneous discharge. Upscaling based on land cover leads to an estimate of total DOC contributions from Greenland between 0.2 and 0.5 Tg/year, much of which is derived from deglaciated watersheds. These results suggest that future warming and ice retreat may increase DOC fluxes from Greenland with consequences for the Arctic carbon cycle.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10449991
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Global Biogeochemical Cycles
- Volume:
- 34
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 0886-6236
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Glacial runoff exports large amounts of carbon (C) to the oceans, but major uncertainty remains regarding sources, seasonality, and magnitude. We apportioned C exported by five rivers from glacial and periglacial sources in northwest Greenland by monitoring discharge, water sources (δ18O), concentration and composition of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and ages (14C) of DOC and particulate organic C over three summers (2010–2012). We found that particulate organic C (
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Abstract The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass at a remarkable rate as a result of climatic warming. This mass loss coincides with the export of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in glacial meltwaters. However, little is known about how the source and composition of exported DOM changes over the melt season, which is key for understanding its fate in downstream ecosystems. Over the 2015 ablation season, we sampled the outflow of Leverett Glacier, a large land‐terminating glacier of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and DOM fluorescence were analyzed to assess the evolution of DOM sources over the course of the melt season. DOC concentrations and red‐shifted fluorescence were highly associated (
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