Regulation of stream water dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations during snowmelt; the role of discharge, winter climate and memory effects

Abstract

Using a 15 year stream record from a northern boreal catchment, we demonstrate that the inter-annual variation in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations during snowmelt was related to discharge, winter climate and previous DOC export. A short and intense snowmelt gave higher stream water DOC concentrations, as did long winters, while a high previous DOC export during the antecedent summer and autumn resulted in lower concentrations during the following spring. By removing the effect of discharge we could detect that the length of winter affected the modeled soil water DOC concentrations during the following snowmelt period, which in turn affected the concentrations in the stream. Winter climate explained more of the stream water DOC variations than previous DOC export during the antecedent summer and autumn.

Published in

Biogeosciences
2010, Volume: 7, number: 9, pages: 2901-2913 Publisher: COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH

SLU Authors

• Ågren, Anneli

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Köhler, Stephan

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Bishop, Kevin

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Laudon, Hjalmar

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

SLU Future Forests


UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-7-2901-2010

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/40542