Circulation and Respiration in Ice-covered Arctic Lakes

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

For approximately nine months of each year, the waters of arctic lakes are under ice. The PI proposes to carry out time series studies: 1) to quantify physical controls on under ice thermal structure and circulation, mixing of snow melt waters, mixing during spring and fall, 2) to quantify respiration rates in arctic lakes of differing morphology and on different geological substrates, and 3) to illustrate the linkages and feedbacks between these physical and biogeochemical processes. Measurements will include temperature and conductivity, meteorology, sediment temperatures, ice thickness, snow cover, and respiration with newly developed oxygen and pCO2 sensors. Lakes cover nearly half the land surface area in some parts of the Arctic. As such, they are expected to have a significant impact on the atmospheric bottom boundary layer and air-land gas exchange regionally. This project will begin to provide the process understanding necessary to parameterize Arctic system models on regional scales.