Suspended sediment and carbonate transport in the Yukon River Basin, Alaska: Fluxes and potential future responses to climate change

[1] Loads and yields of suspended sediment and carbonate were measured and modeled at three locations on the Yukon, Tanana, and Porcupine Rivers in Alaska during water years 2001–2005 (1 October 2000 to 30 September 2005). Annual export of suspended sediment and carbonate upstream from the Yukon Delta averaged 68 Mt a−1 and 387 Gg a−1, respectively, with 50% of the suspended sediment load originating in the Tanana River Basin and 88% of the carbonate load originating in the White River Basin. About half the annual suspended sediment export occurred during spring, and half occurred during summer-autumn, with very little export in winter. On average, a minimum of 11 Mt a−1 of suspended sediment is deposited in floodplains between Eagle, Alaska, and Pilot Station, Alaska, on an annual basis, mostly in the Yukon Flats. There is about a 27% loss in the carbonate load between Eagle and Yukon River near Stevens Village, with an additional loss of about 29% between Stevens Village and Pilot Station, owing to a combination of deposition and dissolution. Comparison of current and historical suspended sediment loads for Tanana River suggests a possible link between suspended sediment yield and the Pacific decadal oscillation.

[1]  J. Downing,et al.  Plumbing the Global Carbon Cycle: Integrating Inland Waters into the Terrestrial Carbon Budget , 2007, Ecosystems.

[2]  A. Ohmura,et al.  Mass balance of glaciers and ice caps: Consensus estimates for 1961–2004 , 2006 .

[3]  J. M. Martin,et al.  A reassessment of the Eurasian river input of water, sediment, major elements, and nutrients to the Arctic Ocean , 1996 .

[4]  A. Arendt,et al.  Rapid Wastage of Alaska Glaciers and Their Contribution to Rising Sea Level , 2002, Science.

[5]  T. Brabets,et al.  Trends in streamflow in the Yukon River Basin from 1944 to 2005 and the influence of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. , 2009 .

[6]  Charles Gobeil,et al.  A sediment and organic carbon budget for the Canadian Beaufort Shelf , 1998 .

[7]  Jeroen C. J. H. Aerts,et al.  Sensitivity of global river discharges under Holocene and future climate conditions , 2006 .

[8]  D. Eberl.  Quantitative mineralogy of the Yukon River system: Changes with reach and season, and determining sediment provenance , 2004 .

[9]  W. Emmett,et al.  Sediment transport in the Tanana River in the vicinity of Fairbanks, Alaska, 1977-78 , 1978 .

[10]  M. Collins,et al.  Projections of future climate change , 2002 .

[11]  G. Russell,et al.  The impact of global warming on river runoff , 1992 .

[12]  G. Russell,et al.  High latitude river runoff in a doubled CO2 climate , 1995 .

[13]  G. Schmidt,et al.  Simulation of recent northern winter climate trends by greenhouse-gas forcing , 1999, Nature.

[14]  John E. Walsh,et al.  Recent Variations of Sea Ice and Air Temperature in High Latitudes , 1993 .

[15]  Eric F. Wood,et al.  A pan‐arctic evaluation of changes in river discharge during the latter half of the 20th century , 2005 .

[16]  M. Stieglitz,et al.  Increasing river discharge in the Eurasian Arctic: Consideration of dams, permafrost thaw, and fires as potential agents of change , 2004 .

[17]  W. Oechel,et al.  Observational Evidence of Recent Change in the Northern High-Latitude Environment , 2000 .

[18]  F. Chapin,et al.  Evidence and Implications of Recent Climate Change in Northern Alaska and Other Arctic Regions , 2004 .

[19]  V. Gordeev.  Fluvial sediment flux to the Arctic Ocean , 2006 .

[20]  Haijing Wang,et al.  A possible important CO2 sink by the global water cycle , 2008 .

[21]  S. Manabe,et al.  Interhemispheric asymmetry in climate response to a gradual increase of atmospheric CO2 , 1989, Nature.

[22]  R. Striegl,et al.  Increased groundwater to stream discharge from permafrost thawing in the Yukon River basin: Potential impacts on lateral export of carbon and nitrogen , 2007 .

[23]  Alexander I. Shiklomanov,et al.  A circumpolar perspective on fluvial sediment flux to the Arctic ocean , 2002 .

[24]  J. Walsh,et al.  Trajectory Shifts in the Arctic and Subarctic Freshwater Cycle , 2006, Science.

[25]  J. Syvitski.  Sediment discharge variability in Arctic rivers: implications for a warmer future , 2002 .

[26]  A. McGuire,et al.  The Effects of Different Climate Input Datasets on Simulated Carbon Dynamics in the Western Arctic , 2007 .

[27]  P. Raymond,et al.  Carbon export and cycling by the Yukon, Tanana, and Porcupine rivers, Alaska, 2001–2005 , 2007 .

[28]  Brian Hartmann,et al.  The Significance of the 1976 Pacific Climate Shift in the Climatology of Alaska , 2005 .

[29]  P. Raymond,et al.  A decrease in discharge‐normalized DOC export by the Yukon River during summer through autumn , 2005 .

[30]  Richard B. Lammers,et al.  Increasing River Discharge to the Arctic Ocean , 2002, Science.

[31]  John F. B. Mitchell,et al.  THE "GREENHOUSE" EFFECT AND CLIMATE CHANGE , 1989 .

[32]  P. Amiotte‐Suchet,et al.  Atmospheric CO2 consumption by continental erosion: present-day controls and implications for the last glacial maximum , 1998 .

[33]  M. Todd Walter,et al.  Linking the pacific decadal oscillation to seasonal stream discharge patterns in Southeast Alaska , 2002 .

[34]  Timothy A. Cohn,et al.  Load Estimator (LOADEST): A FORTRAN Program for Estimating Constituent Loads in Streams and Rivers , 2004 .

[35]  Duane G. Froese,et al.  Characterizing large river history with shallow geophysics: Middle Yukon River, Yukon Territory and Alaska , 2005 .

[36]  R. H. Meade,et al.  Environmental and hydrologic overview of the Yukon River basin, Alaska and Canada , 2000 .

[37]  C. Symon,et al.  Arctic climate impact assessment , 2005 .

[38]  R. Striegl,et al.  Nutrient (N, P) loads and yields at multiple scales and subbasin types in the Yukon River basin, Alaska , 2007 .

[39]  Eric F. Wood,et al.  Decreasing river discharge in northern Canada , 2005 .

[40]  T. K. Edwards,et al.  Field methods for measurement of fluvial sediment , 1998 .

[41]  I. Semiletov,et al.  Carbonate chemistry dynamics and carbon dioxide fluxes across the atmosphere–ice–water interfaces in the Arctic Ocean: Pacific sector of the Arctic , 2007 .

[42]  Acia.  Arctic Climate Impact Assessment - ACIA , 2005 .

[43]  H. P. Guy,et al.  Laboratory theory and methods for sediment analysis , 1969 .

[44]  P. Schuster.  Water and Sediment Quality in the Yukon River Basin, Alaska, During Water Year 2001 , 2003 .

[45]  J. Syvitski,et al.  Supply and flux of sediment along hydrological pathways: research for the 21st century , 2003 .

[46]  L. Smith,et al.  Geochemistry of west Siberian streams and their potential response to permafrost degradation , 2007 .

[47]  Dennis D. Eberl,et al.  User Guide to RockJock - A Program for Determining Quantitative Mineralogy from X-Ray Diffraction Data , 2003 .

[48]  J. Syvitski,et al.  Geology, Geography, and Humans Battle for Dominance over the Delivery of Fluvial Sediment to the Coastal Ocean , 2007, The Journal of Geology.

[49]  D. Walling.  Tracing suspended sediment sources in catchments and river systems. , 2005, The Science of the total environment.

[50]  T. R. Yuzyk,et al.  Movement and storage of sediment in rivers of the United States and Canada , 1990 .