The Changing Cold Regions Network:Observation,diagnosis and prediction of environmental change in the Saskatchewan and Mackenzie River Basins,Canada

Climate change is causing rapid and severe changes to many Earth systems and processes,with widespread cryospheric,ecological,and hydrological impacts globally,and especially in high northern latitudes.This is of major societal concern and there is an urgent need for improved understanding and predictive tools for environmental management.The Changing Cold Regions Network(CCRN)is a Canadian research consortium with a focus to integrate existing and new experimental data with modelling and remote sensing products to understand,diagnose,and predict changing land,water,and climate,and their interactions and feedbacks over the geographic domain of the Mackenzie and Saskatchewan River Basins in Canada.The network operates a set of 14 unique and focused Water,Ecosystem,Cryosphere and Climate(WECC)observatories within this region,which provide opportunities to observe and understand processes and their interaction,as well as develop and test numerical simulation models,and provide validation data for remote sensing products.This paper describes this network and its observational,experimental,and modelling programme.An overview of many of the recent Earth system changes observed across the study region is provided,and some local insights from WECC observatories that may partly explain regional patterns and trends are described.Several of the model products being developed are discussed,and linkages with the local to international user community are reviewed—In particular,the use of WECC data towards model and remote sensing product calibration and validation is highlighted.Some future activities and prospects for the network are also presented at the end of the paper.     

Mercury transformations and exchanges in a high turbidity estuary:: The role of organic matter and amorphous oxyhydroxides

The speciation and partition of mercury in a macrotidal estuary (Seine estuary, France) was studied in order to explore the role of the high turbidity zone (HTZ) in mercury transfer to the adjacent coastal waters. Water and particles were analyzed to determine the concentrations of various mercury species, including monomethylmercury and the inorganic fraction. The exchangeable particulate mercury, which varies with salinity, and the mercury fraction associated with the amorphous oxyhydroxides were evaluated. The distribution of dissolved mercury species during early mixing suggests non-conservative behavior of organically bound mercury at the head of the estuary. Mercury in the particles covaried positively with suspended particulate matter concentrations up to a threshold, which constitutes the typical mercury load of particles and deposited sediments of the HTZ. This distribution pattern is well explained by a dilution model: a slowly settling, low metal population of particle, characterized by relatively invariant turbidity, becomes admixed with a variable amount of higher metal content particles derived from the resuspension in the HTZ. In addition, in the HTZ, which acts as a degradation reactor for particulate organic matter, particulate mercury concentrations increase with increasing C:N ratios and amorphous oxyhydroxides particles. Mercury reaches the estuarine HTZ mainly associated with the riverine and marine particles, including organic matter and oxyhydroxides, which are temporarily trapped in the HTZ and mixed with autochthonous HTZ particles. The largest particles periodically settle and undergo diagenetic reactions and resuspensions, which lead to their mercury enrichment. Depending upon hydrodynamic conditions, mercury escapes seaward as fine particulate within the plume, partially associated with the oxyhydroxides. A surface complexation model reproduces most of the partitioning observed. In the dissolved phase the model simulation suggests that a very strong ligand must be present to explain the field observations.     

Mercury transformations and fluxes in sediments of a riverine wetland

Porewater samples were obtained on five occasions during spring, summer and fall by in situ dialysis from three sites of a large freshwater wetland situated along the St. Lawrence River. These samples were analysed for total dissolved mercury ([Hg]_T) and methylmercury ([MeHg]) concentrations and for complementary variables including dissolved sulfate, sulfide and elemental sulfur concentrations. Sediment cores were obtained on three occasions from one of these sites for the determination of total mercury ({Hg}_T) and methylmercury ({MeHg}) concentration as well as mercury methyltransferase (HgMT) activity profiles. {MeHg} and HgMT activity varied with time and sediment depth. The porewater [Hg]_T and [MeHg] depth profiles varied with time and among sites. Modeling the porewater [MeHg] profiles with a one-dimensional reaction-transport equation allowed identification of the sediment depths where MeHg is produced or consumed, as well as an estimate of the net in situ MeHg production rates in the sediments. The model-predicted depths of MeHg production, as well as the sulfate concentration and the HgMT activity depth distributions are all consistent with the involvement of sulfate reducing bacteria in the production of MeHg.     

The impact of groundwater discharges on mercury partitioning, speciation and bioavailability to mussels in a coastal zone

The Mussel Watch program conducted along the French coasts for the last 20 years indicates that the highest mercury concentrations in the soft tissue of the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) occur in animals from the eastern part of Seine Bay on the south coast of the English Channel, the “Pays de Caux”. This region is characterized by the presence of intertidal and submarine groundwater discharges, and no particular mercury effluent has been reported in its vicinity. Two groundwater emergence systems in the karstic coastal zone of the Pays de Caux (Etretat and Yport with slow and fast water percolation pathways respectively) were seasonally sampled to study mercury distribution, partitioning and speciation in water. Samples were also collected in the freshwater–seawater mixing zones in order to compare mercury concentrations and speciation between these “subterranean” or “groundwater” estuaries and the adjacent macrotidal Seine estuary, characterized by a high turbidity zone (HTZ). The mercury concentrations in the soft tissue of mussels from the same areas were monitored at the same time.The means of the “dissolved” (< 0.45 μm) mercury concentrations (HgT_D) in the groundwater springs were 0.99 ± 0.15 ng l^− 1 (n = 18) and 0.44 ± 0.17 ng l^− 1 (n = 17) at Etretat and Yport respectively. High HgT_D concentrations were associated with strong runoff over short water pathways during storm periods, while low concentrations were associated with long groundwater pathways. Mean particulate mercury concentrations were 0.22 ± 0.05 ng mg^− 1 (n = 16) and 0.16 ± 0.10 ng mg^− 1 (n = 17) at Etretat and Yport respectively, and decreased with increasing particle concentration probably as a result of dilution by particles from soil erosion. Groundwater mercury speciation was characterized by high reactive-to-total mercury ratios in the dissolved phase (HgR_D/HgT_D: 44–95%), and very low total monomethylmercury concentrations (MMHg < 8 pg l^− 1). The HgT_D distributions in the Yport and Etretat mixing zones were similar (overall mean concentration of 0.73 ± 0.21 ng l^− 1, n = 43), but higher than those measured in the adjacent industrialized Seine estuary (mean: 0.31 ± 0.11 ng l^− 1, n = 67). In the coastal waters along the Pays de Caux dissolved monomethylmercury (MMHg_D) concentrations varied from 9.5 to 13.5 pg l^− 1 (2 to 8% of the HgT_D). Comparable levels were measured in the Seine estuary (range: 12.2– 21.1 pg l⁻¹; 6–12% of the HgT_D). These groundwater karstic estuaries seem to be mostly characterized by the higher HgT_D and HgR_D concentrations than in the adjacent HTZ Seine estuary. While the HTZ of the Seine estuary acts as a dissolved mercury removal system, the low turbid mixing zone of the Pays de Caux receives the dissolved mercury inputs from the groundwater seepage with an apparent Hg transfer from the particulate phase to the “dissolved” phase (< 0.45 μm). In parallel, the soft tissue of mussels collected near the groundwater discharges, at Etretat and Yport, exhibited significantly higher values than those found in the mussel from the mouth of the Seine estuary. We observe that this difference mimics the differences found in the mercury distribution in the water, and argue that the dissolved phase of the groundwater estuaries and coastal particles are significant sources of bioavailable mercury for mussels.