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Increased organic carbon concentrations in Estonian rivers in the period 1992–2007 as affected by deepening droughts

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Abstract

There are 10,091 km2 of peatlands in Estonia and human activities may have changed the role of northern peatlands from global sinks to global sources of carbon. The aim of this work was to explain the changes in organic carbon exports from eleven Estonian rivers in the period 1992–2007 in terms of land use change, climate change quantified by trends in stream-water discharge and hydrological droughts and reductions in atmospheric sulfate quantified by change in water chemistry. Direct TOC (total organic carbon) measurements had been initiated in 1998. We used CODKMnO4 (permanganate oxygen consumed) as its surrogate for the whole time span (Spearman’s determination coefficient in six small northern Estonian rivers 0.95 > ρ2 > 0.72; p < 0.01). The Mann–Kendall test revealed significant trends in the TOC proxy in five small rivers in northern Estonia (M–K stat > 2.35; p < 0.05). The trends in the eleven investigated streams correlated closely with the increased 28 ratios of drought days (Spearman’s ρ2 = 0.68; p < 0.01). The correlations with land use compositions, decreases in water discharges and SO4 2− concentrations were insignificant (p > 0.05). We conclude that the main factor in the increase of organic carbon export is the deepening of droughts driven by climate change, magnified by man-made drainage.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Estonian Science Foundation grant No. 7527 and Target Funding Project SF0180127s08 of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. We sincerely thank Ms. Ülle Leisk from the Department of Environmental Engineering of Tallinn University of Technology and Ms. Valeria Galushkina from EMHI for their data and comments.

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  1. Department of Geography, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 46 Vanemuise St., 51014, Tartu, Estonia

    Jaan Pärn & Ülo Mander

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  1. Jaan Pärn
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  2. Ülo Mander
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Correspondence to Jaan Pärn.

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Pärn, J., Mander, Ü. Increased organic carbon concentrations in Estonian rivers in the period 1992–2007 as affected by deepening droughts. Biogeochemistry 108, 351–358 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-011-9604-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-011-9604-0

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