The archived data are from a numerical model simulation across the watershed draining to Elson Lagoon over the period 1981–2020 with the Permafrost Water Balance Model (v4). The transient 40-year simulation was preceded by a 50-year spinup on year 1980 to stabilize soil temperature, moisture, and soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) pools. Meteorological forcings of near-surface (2 m) air temperature, precipitation, and wind speed were drawn from observations at Utqiaǵvik, Alaska. Model parameterizations include static (non-time-varying) fields of soil texture and vegetation cover.
The PWBM was recently updated to include process representations related to water loss from the surface and DOC production, decomposition, storage and loading to stream and river networks (Rawlins et al., 2021 and Rawlins, 2021). DOC production is influenced by the amount of surface and soil organic matter and the dynamics of surface/soil temperature and moisture. The decomposition of DOC is assumed to result in losses to carbon dioxide and/or sorption to the mineral soil. Transfer of DOC from the surface or a soil layer to the stream and river network takes place whenever surface or subsurface runoff occurs
DOC = SDOC (t) Q
where DOC is mass loaded to a stream or river network (g C m2 day−1), SDOC (t) is soilwater DOC storage (g C m−3), and Q is runoff (m day−1). Soil carbon density for each grid cell was assigned 50 kg m−3, which was the areally weighted mean amount calculated from soil cores collected along a transect within the watershed (Bockheim et al., 1999). Aboveground carbon was parameterized based on estimates of biomass from sites originally established near Utqiaǵvik in 1972, and resampled in 1999, 2008 and 2012 (Lara et al., 2012; Villarreal et al., 2012). Biomass from the vegetation communities in these plots averages 49.9 g C m−2 (Goswami et al., 2015). Parameterization of aboveground carbon storage was obtained by applying the rate increase derived from satellite-based estimates of net primary productivity (Zhang et al., 2008) for the period 1985–2005 to the vegetation communities' plots average set at its midpoint year 1992. Rawlins et al. (2021) provide additional detail on the recent model updates, and Rawlins (2021) specifics related to the archived data.
Bockheim, J., Everett, L., Hinkel, K., Nelson, F., and Brown, J. (1999). Soil organic carbon storage and distribution in Arctic tundra, Barrow, Alaska. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 63(4):934–940.
Goswami, S., Gamon, J., Vargas, S., and Tweedie, C. (2015). Relationships of NDVI, biomass, and leaf area index (LAI) for six key plant species in Barrow, Alaska. Technical report, PeerJ PrePrints.
Lara, M., Villarreal, S., Johnson, D., Hollister, R., Webber, P., and Tweedie, C. (2012). Estimated change in tundra ecosystem function near Barrow, Alaska between 1972 and 2010. Environmental Research Letters, 7(1):015507.
Rawlins, M. A., Connolly, C. T., and McClelland, J. W. (2021). Modeling terrestrial dissolved organic carbon loading to western Arctic rivers. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, in press.
Rawlins, M. A. (2021). Increasing Freshwater and Dissolved Organic Carbon Flows to Northwest Alaska’s Elson Lagoon, Environmental Research Letters, in press.
Villarreal, S., Hollister, R., Johnson, D., Lara, M., Webber, P., and Tweedie, C. (2012). Tundra vegetation change near Barrow, Alaska (1972–2010). Environmental Research Letters, 7(1):015508.
Zhang, K., Kimball, J. S., Mu, Q., Jones, L. A., Goetz, S. J., and Running, S. W. (2009). Satellite based analysis of northern ET trends and associated changes in the regional water balance from 1983 to 2005. J. Hydrol., 379:92–110.
