The Rusting of Arctic Rivers: Using orange streams to identify and assess degraded water quality caused by metal mobilization from permafrost soils
This study is investigating the causes of iron and metal release to Arctic streams in the Brooks Range of Alaska and the consequences for water quality and aquatic ecosystemsAbstract
Streams and rivers provide essential ecosystem services for rural communities in Alaska’s Arctic region. These ecosystems are vulnerable to the effects of rapid climate change and altered disturbance regimes including widespread permafrost thaw, thaw-induced erosion, and wildfires, processes that alter the concentration and flux of organic carbon, nutrients, and trace metals in Arctic rivers. Recent observations from Arctic Alaska indicate that waters draining permafrost landscapes may be susceptible to iron and carbon mobilization following thaw. One visual indication of the altered iron-cycling processes is the abrupt change in the color of stream and river reaches, reflecting a dramatic shift in water quality. Although the underlying processes causing orange streams are unknown, this region is experiencing widespread thaw and subsequent shifts in hydrologic flow paths, and the oxidation of subsurface minerals from thawing permafrost is hypothesized to deliver iron and other toxic metals in dissolved and colloidal forms from thawing soils to streams. This project will improve our understanding of the causes and consequences of contaminant release into Arctic streams using a combination of techniques including remote sensing and mapping, and water quality and aquatic ecosystem sampling.
Products
Contacts
Carey, Michael , 907-786-7197Koch, Joshua C., 907-786-7119
Status: onGoing
Start Year: 2023
End Year: 2025