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Observed changes in pan-arctic cold-season minimum monthly river discharge

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Abstract

Recent changes in pan-arctic land-surface hydrology may significantly affect ecosystems and the built environment. While spatial and temporal patterns in land-surface hydrology trends can be identified using in situ observations of river discharge, the existing studies of cold-season river discharge are often inconsistent and incomparable because they use different methodologies, time periods and geographic regions. By using a comprehensive dataset of river discharge and a trend analysis applying one algorithm over a range of temporal and spatial scales, a synthesis of pan-arctic cold-season low-flow was performed. Cold-season low-flow is increasing over most of the pan-arctic, with decreasing flow in eastern North America and unchanged flow in small basins in the late twentieth century in eastern Eurasia as the main exceptions. This study provides the first synthesis of spatially distributed cold-season low-flow trends in the pan-arctic and indicates that widespread changes in pan-arctic subsurface hydrology are occurring.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Stephen Déry, Katherine Meierdierks and Judith Swan for valuable feedback on the manuscript. This work was made possible by the support of NSF Grant NSF 0629471, NSF Grant OPP02-30211, and NASA Grant NNG06GE62G.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA

    Asa K. Rennermalm

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    Eric F. Wood & Tara J. Troy

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  1. Asa K. Rennermalm
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Correspondence to Asa K. Rennermalm.

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Rennermalm, A.K., Wood, E.F. & Troy, T.J. Observed changes in pan-arctic cold-season minimum monthly river discharge. Clim Dyn 35, 923–939 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-009-0730-5

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