American Geophysical Union Highlights IAB Researcher’s Article

Submitted by Marie Gilbert
Phone: (907) 474-7412
08/14/03

The journal Geophysical Research Letters selected Institute of Arctic Biology researcher Dr. Jeremy B. Jones’ paper "Long-Term Decline in Carbon Dioxide Supersaturation in Rivers Across the Contiguous United States" as an American Geophysical Research Union Journal Highlight.

"A highlight article is one a journal editor thinks is the most interesting and will appeal to a broader audience," American Geophysical Union Public Information Manager Harvey Leifert said.

For Jones and co-researchers Emily H. Stanley of the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Patrick J. Mulholland of the Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn., their findings were a bit like discovering a radio station amidst the static.

At first glance, Jones said, a review of a 22-year water quality data set from the United States Geological Survey covering major U.S. rivers and streams showed no obvious trends.

When Jones and co-researchers looked only at carbon dioxide data and specifically carbon dioxide by source, they saw distinct trends over time.

Their analysis revealed a significant decline in water-bound carbon dioxide from 1973 to 1994. Carbon dioxide is typically supersaturated in rivers due to the decomposition of organic matter decomposition in aquatic, soil and groundwater ecosystems. The degree of supersaturation is affected by processes such as weathering and acid deposition.

The decline in carbon dioxide, Jones said, is not due to changes in the weathering of bedrock or in-stream activity of organisms, but instead due to large-scale declines in terrestrial carbon dioxide production and declines in the amount of carbon dioxide entering rivers and streams.

Moreover, the declines suggest that rates of soil respiration and groundwater flows from soils to streams across much of the contiguous U.S. changed in fundamental ways during the latter part of the 20th century.

The article by Jones et al. was published in the May 17, 2003 edition of Geophysical Research Letters.

For more information contact: Dr. Jay Jones, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, (907) 474-7972, ffjbj@uaf.edu.