Effects of seasonal and interannual variability in water isotopes (δ2H, δ18O) on estimates of water balance in a chain of seven prairie lakes

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dc.contributor.authorHaig, H. A.
dc.contributor.authorHayes, N. M.
dc.contributor.authorSimpson, G. L.
dc.contributor.authorYi, Y.
dc.contributor.authorWissel, B.
dc.contributor.authorHodder, K.R.
dc.contributor.authorLeavitt, P.R.
dc.date.accessioned2023-04-26T21:13:17Z
dc.date.available2023-04-26T21:13:17Z
dc.date.issued2020-12-10
dc.description© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).en_US
dc.description.abstractStable isotopes of hydrogen (δ2H) and oxygen (δ18O) provide important quantitative measures of lake hydrology and water balance, particularly in lakes where monitoring of fluxes is incomplete. However, little is known of the relative effects of seasonal variation in water isotopes on estimates of lake hydrology, particularly over decadal scales. To address this gap, we measured water isotopes bi-weekly May-September during 2003–2016 in seven riverine lakes within the 52,000 km2 Qu’Appelle River drainage basin of the Canadian Prairies. Analyses revealed that within-year variation in δ18O values routinely exceeded that among years, reflecting rapid changes in water source, particularly in lakes with water residence times <1 year. Isotopic variation was greatest during spring following snowmelt, except in large deep lakes which exhibited limited differences among seasons or years. In contrast, large hydrological events (e.g., 1-in-140-year flood in 2011) homogenized isotopic values, even among riverine lakes separated by over 150 km, and exerted particularly strong legacy effects on large lakes. Overall, study lakes exhibited a strongly positive moisture balance (evaporation < inflow), despite regional precipitation deficits of 30 cm yr−1, with greater reliance on rainfall (vs. snow) and possibly evaporation in downstream lakes within more humid regions. We conclude that seasonal samples of water isotopes are required to characterize the hydrology of shallow lakes, or those with unknown reliance on snowmelt waters, as well as to better quantify lake susceptibility to climate variability.en_US
dc.description.authorstatusFacultyen_US
dc.description.peerreviewyesen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was supported by the NSERC Canada Discovery Grants program, Canada Research Chairs, Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Province of Saskatchewan, and the University of Regina.en_US
dc.identifier.citationHaig, H.A., N.M. Hayes, G.L. Simpson, Y. Yi, B. Wissel, K.R. Hodder, and P.R. Leavitt. 2021. Effects of seasonal and interannual variability in water isotopes (δ2H, δ18O) on estimates of water balance in a chain of seven prairie lakes. J. Hydrol. X 10: 100069. doi.org/10.1016/j.hydroa.2020.100069en_US
dc.identifier.doidoi.org/10.1016/j.hydroa.2020.100069
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10294/15884
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/*
dc.subjectWater isotopesen_US
dc.subjectHydrologyen_US
dc.subjectScales of variabilityen_US
dc.subjectHigh resolutionen_US
dc.subjectLong-term monitoringen_US
dc.subjectWater balanceen_US
dc.subjectPrairie lakesen_US
dc.subjectQu’Appelleen_US
dc.titleEffects of seasonal and interannual variability in water isotopes (δ2H, δ18O) on estimates of water balance in a chain of seven prairie lakesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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