HR: 0800h
AN: C41A-0185    [Abstracts]
TI: A Statistical Examination of Spatial and Temporal Trends in Eurasian Arctic River Discharge
AU: * Sampson, K M
EM: Ksampson@gmail.com
AF: UCLA Department of Geography, Bunche 1255 Box 951524, Los Angeles, CA 90095 United States
AU: Pavelsky, T M
EM: pavelsky@ucla.edu
AF: UCLA Department of Geography, Bunche 1255 Box 951524, Los Angeles, CA 90095 United States
AU: Smith, L C
EM: lsmith@geog.ucla.edu
AF: UCLA Department of Geography, Bunche 1255 Box 951524, Los Angeles, CA 90095 United States
AU: Lammers, R B
EM: Richard.Lammers@unh.edu
AF: Water Systems Analysis Group, Morse Hall, Rm. 211 University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AU: Shiklomanov, A I
EM: Alexander.Shiklomanov@unh.edu
AF: Water Systems Analysis Group, Morse Hall, Rm. 211 University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AB: The importance of Arctic river systems to regional and global environments has been well documented. In particular, recently observed increases in freshwater discharge may influence Arctic Ocean ice pack dynamics and, by extension, have a substantial impact on global climate. Despite its critical role as both a driver and an indicator of climate change, many aspects of the Arctic hydrologic cycle are poorly understood. One of the most promising tools in understanding Arctic river discharge is R-ArcticNet v. 3.0, a pan-Arctic database of monthly discharge values for over 8000 hydrologic gauging stations. Many of these stations provide a nearly continuous time series from the early 20th century to the present. In this study, we examine trends in discharge for stations in the Eurasian Arctic at multiple spatial and temporal scales in an attempt to better understand the dynamics of the Arctic hydrologic cycle. The Mann-Kendall test for monotonic trend, a non-parametric test of statistical significance, is used in combination with simple linear regression to examine variations in discharge at monthly, seasonal, and annual time scales for basins ranging in size from 100 to nearly 3 million sq. km. Results of this analysis are mapped using GIS software in order to facilitate the observation of patterns in discharge variation across the Eurasian Arctic as well as to allow comparison with other variables including permafrost extent. Preliminary results suggest that changes in discharge vary substantially from region to region; permafrost extent appears to have little influence on the distribution of increases and decreases in discharge.
DE: 9315 Arctic region
DE: 1655 Water cycles (1836)
DE: 1860 Runoff and streamflow
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting