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Wang, Brian Yanbo

University of British Columbia

The latest global estimates of CO₂ emissions from inland waters are equivalent to half of the annual anthropogenic emissions. However, this estimate categorized large emitting headwater streams in the same classification as lower turbulent rivers. To better understand the role of headwater stream, I monitored the same stream spaced 3.3 km apart (drainage areas of 7.8 and 9.0 km² respectively) in the UBC Malcolm Knapp Research Forest near Maple Ridge, British Columbia. The integrated an upstream-downstream perspective in the dataset can characterize the evolution of dissolved carbon as it moves through the landscape. Through PCA analysis and visualizing data in hydrographs, I identified differing water quality characteristics associated with a range of discharge conditions. Through timeseries analysis, this study identified seasonal trends, with DOC being highest in winter and correlated strongly with storm events. Dissolved CO₂ was highest in early spring to late summer and lowest in the winter. Additionally, I found distinct seasonal patterns of DOC export and pCO₂ evasion and changes in transport patterns that were associated with the transition from dry to wet conditions. During storm events, the CO₂ evasion became larger and DOC concentrations for the sites became more similar with each other. This study showed the complex coupling of DOC and pCO₂ with the surrounding landscape. In particular, periods of high turbulence might not coincide with periods of high pCO₂ supply, meaning that CO₂ evasion can be seen as supply and transport limited at different points in the hydrologic year. This field-centric study provided an annual dataset to a data scarce region and provided an evasion estimate of a turbulent headwater stream draining a carbon rich landscape. Overall, this study helps to quantify dissolved carbon processes from mountainous streams draining high carbon supply landscapes, contributing to future regional estimates.

Text

2024-01-03

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87041

Resources, Environment and Sustainability

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/