GPHY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Active Layer, Carbon Cycle, Biogeochemistry

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Geography
• Course: GPHY 102
• Professor: Paul M Treitz

Document Summary

Greatest amount of warming in arctic regions and high arctic (canary ina coal mine) Has significant store of carbon on a global scale. Carbon is part of the permafrost, however as the climate warms that will change. Will affect the carbon cycle as carbon is released back into the atmosphere. Everything in the arctic is built upon rock solid permafrost. Large thaw slumps/mass movements (ground breaks away and slides downslope into a river or bank) Warming impacts on watershed hydrology, river biogeochemistry climate change will also alter precipitation (snow or rain) also affects when/where/how much precipitation runoff volumes and timing, subsurface flow. When river flows are expected to peak, they will peak later in the summer with rainfall. How do we study watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry. What is biogeochemistry: study of earth processes that involves biology. Why does it matter specifically with the arctic: local importance, water quality, fisheries, global importance,