Multi-year isoscapes of lake water balances across a dynamic northern freshwater delta
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15550772 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Casey R Remmer (0000-0003-2626-3012, University of Waterloo), Laura K Neary (0000-0002-8696-952X, University of Waterloo), Mitchell L Kay (0000-0001-6975-6242, University of Waterloo), Brent B Wolfe (0000-0003-4093-453X, Wilfrid Laurier University, corresponding author), Roland I Hall (0000-0002-0314-6449, University of Waterloo) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 104066-104066 |
| Publication date | 2020-08-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/abb267 |
| OpenAlex | W3014582739 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 36 |
Sustainable approaches capable of tracking status, trends and drivers of lake water balances in complex, remote landscapes are needed to inform ecosystem stewardship and water-security actions. At the Peace-Athabasca Delta (Alberta, Canada), a globally recognized freshwater floodplain landscape, concerns about water-level drawdown and multiple potential stressors have prompted need to improve knowledge of lake water balances and establish a lake monitoring program. Yet, the delta’s remoteness and dynamic nature present challenges to these goals. Here we use over 1000 measurements of water isotope composition at ∼60 lakes and 9 river sites during the spring, summer and fall of five consecutive years (2015–2019) to elucidate patterns in lake water balance over time and space, the influential roles of evaporation and river floodwaters, and relations with meteorological conditions and river water levels. Calculation of evaporation-to-inflow ratios using a coupled-isotope tracer approach, displayed via generalized additive models and geospatial ‘isoscapes’, reveal strongly varying lake water balances. Results identify distinct areas vulnerable to lake-level drawdown, given the likelihood of continued decline in ice-jam flood frequency, longer ice-free season duration and reduced snowmelt runoff. Results also demarcate areas of the delta where lakes are more resilient to factors that cause drawdown. The former defines the Peace sector, which is influenced by floodwaters from the Peace River during episodic ice-jam flood events, whereas the latter describes portions of the active floodplain environment of the Athabasca sector which receives more frequent contributions of Athabasca River floodwaters during both spring ice-jam and open-water seasons. Efficiency of water isotope tracers to capture the marked temporal and spatial heterogeneity in lake water balances during this 5 year time span, and their diagnostic responses to key hydrological processes, serves as a foundation for ongoing lake monitoring, an approach readily transferable to other remote and dynamic lake-rich landscapes
Delta · Flood myth · Floodplain · Geography · Hydrology (agriculture · River delta · Snowmelt · Surface runoff · Water balance · Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics · Environmental Science · Groundwater and Isotope Geochemistry · Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies · Ecology · Geology
Interpolating the isotopic composition of modern meteoric precipitation
Disappearing Arctic Lakes
Freshwater biodiversity
The Exhaustion of Wood Buffalo National Park
We Used to Say Rats Fell from the Sky After a Flood
Drying drives decline in muskrat population in the Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada
Cumulative Effects of Climate Warming and Other Human Activities on Freshwaters of Arctic and Subarctic North America
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |