Shifting DOC concentration and quality in the freshwater lakes of the Kangerlussuaq region: An experimental assessment of possible mechanisms

ABSTRACT

Since 2003, concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in lakes in the Kangerlussuaq region declined by 14–55 percent, with these decreasing DOC concentrations potentially altering lake ecology and reflecting changes in regional carbon (C) cycling. To evaluate possible mechanisms responsible for this shift, we performed experiments to test the effects of dust addition, bacterial activity, or photodegradation on DOC concentration and two DOC quality metrics: the specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA₂₅₄) and the chromophoric DOC spectral slope coefficient (S_275–295). Lake-water DOC concentrations did not decline in any treatments, but there were changes in DOC quality. Dust addition increased SUVA₂₅₄ and decreased the magnitude of S_275–295 in one lake, the impacts of bacterial activity were variable, and sunlight exposure elicited a decline in SUVA₂₅₄ and an increase in the magnitude of S_275–295 in all lakes. These results suggest that DOC pools in the study lakes are photoreactive, even though the lakes are characterized by long residence times, but that declining DOC concentration did not result from this mechanism. While the tested mechanisms did not explain the decline in DOC concentration observed in recent years, they did yield new information about how dust, bacterial activity, or light can influence DOC quality in the lakes of the Kangerlussuaq region.

KEYWORDS:

• Dissolved organic carbon
• dust
• bacterial processing
• photoreactivity
• lake C cycling

Acknowledgments

We thank two reviewers for providing helpful comments that improved the quality of this manuscript. Mike Handley conducted dust elemental analysis, Jo Bullard gave advice on dust sampling, and Benjamin Burpee, Max Egener, Robert Northington, Andrea Nurse, Helen Schlimm, Kristin Strock, Carl Tugend, and Kate Warner provided valuable field assistance.

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Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation Grants #1144423 and #1203434.