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Riverine nitrogen and carbon exports from the Canadian landmass to estuaries

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Abstract

Dissolved total nitrogen (Nt) and total organic carbon (TOC) exports were measured from 30 catchments and regions draining 76 % of the Canadian landscape in order to estimate reactive N and organic C runoff losses to estuaries and the conditions that control them. N exports from the catchments were lower than measured in most of Europe and the United States due to significantly less agricultural activity and atmospheric deposition, especially in northern Canada. We produce statistical models using a number of geographical, climatic, agricultural, and population factors in order to predict N and C losses from the remaining regions. Using measured and extrapolated data, we estimated that the Canadian landscape exports 884 and 18,210 ktons of Nt and OC per year. Area normalized exports ranged from 29.4 kg km−2 for the northern Mackenzie River to 299 kg km−2 for the semi-agricultural Saint John. Area normalized OC exports ranged from 495 kg km−2 in the high Arctic to 7,295 to the wetland dominated Broadback River in northern Quebec. N exports were best predicted by the latitude of the catchment centroid, mean slope, population density, runoff and % of the catchment as agricultural land. The best model for predicting TOC exports needed only slope and runoff. The Nt/OC ratio in the rivers unsurprisingly was highest in the southern portion of the country where anthropogenic activities were concentrated.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Roger Shetagne of Hydro Québec, Allison Zacharias of the Manitoba/Manitoba Hydro Coordinated Aquatic Monitoring Program and Elaine Page of Manitoba Water Stewardship for providing data from rivers draining into Hudson Bay. Thomas Jaegler of the University of Québec assisted with St Lawrence basin database contributions. From Environment Canada, Joseph Culp provided data from the Arctic, Denis Parent from the Atlantic Region, Myriam Rondeau for the St Lawrence, and Nancy Glozier for the Prairie and northern rivers. Finally, we thank the Associate Editor and two reviewers whose patience and constructive comments allowed us to improve our original submission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada

    Thomas A. Clair

  2. Environment Canada, Water Science and Technology Directorate, 45 Alderney Dr, Dartmouth, NS, B2Y 3N6, Canada

    Thomas A. Clair

  3. Environment Canada, Water Science and Technology Directorate, 6226, Sackville, NB, E4L 1G6, Canada

    Ian F. Dennis

  4. Groupe BORÉAS, Département de Biologie, Chimie et Géographie, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300, allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC, G5L 3A1, Canada

    Simon Bélanger

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Correspondence to Thomas A. Clair.

Appendix

Appendix

GIS and other data sources used in the analysis

Agricultural areas were defined using the Simple Biosphere model of the North American Land Cover Characteristics Data Base, http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/glcc/.

Catchment slope was calculated from USGS 30 arc-second DEM for North America corrected for hydrological features: http://eros.usgs.gov/#/Find_Data/Products_and_Data_Available/gtopo30/README.

The runoff data was mostly from the 1978 hydrological atlas of Canada http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/archives/hydrological_atlas_1978/water_quantity_general/24_Annual_Runoff_1978.

River Drainage area was modified from the Canada National Atlas Major River Basin layer http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/reference/national/drainbasins/referencemap_image_view and NRCan 2001, Atlas of Canada (rivers).

http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/facts/rivers.html/#bay (Accessed Oct 27, 2011).

http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/archives/5thedition/environment/water/mcr4055.

Population distribution was quantified from the Canadian Atlas (NRCan 2001): http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/peopleandsociety/population/population2001/density2001 (accessed Oct. 19, 2011).

Water chemistry data from British Columbia and the Yukon were accessed at: http://waterquality.ec.gc.ca/waterqualityweb/searchtext.aspx?lang=EN.

Catchment biological characteristics were extracted from the Atlas of Canada (biomes) (NRCan 2001) http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/theme_modules/borealforest/forest_regions.jpg/image_view (accessed Oct. 19, 2011).

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Clair, T.A., Dennis, I.F. & Bélanger, S. Riverine nitrogen and carbon exports from the Canadian landmass to estuaries. Biogeochemistry 115, 195–211 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-013-9828-2

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