Jussi Vuorenmaa

Dissolved organic carbon trends resulting from changes in atmospheric deposition chemistry.

Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain recent, widespread increases in concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the surface waters of glaciated landscapes across eastern North America and northern and central Europe. Some invoke anthropogenic forcing through mechanisms related to climate change, nitrogen deposition or changes in land use, and by implication suggest that current concentrations and fluxes are without precedent. All of these hypotheses imply that DOC levels will continue to rise, with unpredictable consequences for the global carbon cycle. Alternatively, it has been proposed that DOC concentrations are returning toward pre-industrial levels as a result of a gradual decline in the sulphate content of atmospheric deposition. Here we show, through the assessment of time series data from 522 remote lakes and streams in North America and northern Europe, that rising trends in DOC between 1990 and 2004 can be concisely explained by a simple model based solely on changes in deposition chemistry and catchment acid-sensitivity. We demonstrate that DOC concentrations have increased in proportion to the rates at which atmospherically deposited anthropogenic sulphur and sea salt have declined. We conclude that acid deposition to these ecosystems has been partially buffered by changes in organic acidity and that the rise in DOC is integral to recovery from acidification. Over recent decades, deposition-driven increases in organic matter solubility may have increased the export of DOC to the oceans, a potentially important component of regional carbon balances. The increase in DOC concentrations in these regions appears unrelated to other climatic factors.

Losses of Nitrogen and Phosphorus from Agricultural and Forest Areas in Finland during the 1980s and 1990s

The temporal changes and spatial variability of phosphorus andnitrogen losses and concentrations in Finland during the period1981–1997 were studied in 15 small agricultural and forestedcatchments. In addition, four coastal river basins with highagricultural land use located in southern Finland were includedin the study in order to assess the representativeness ofagricultural loss estimates from small agricultural catchments.The mean annual loss specific for agricultural land was estimatedto be on average 110 kg km-2 a-1 for total phosphorusand 1500 kg km-2 a-1 for total nitrogen. The resultsfrom small agricultural catchments were in agreement with thecorresponding loss estimates from rivers, with an average of137 kg km-2 a-1 for total phosphorus and 1800 kg km-2a-1 for total nitrogen. The results from the studiedagricultural catchments and rivers during the period 1981–1997suggest that weather-driven fluctuation in discharge was usuallythe main reason for changes in nutrient losses, and little or noimpact of changes in agricultural production or managementpractises can be observed. In forested areas the total phosphorusloss (average 9 kg km-2 a-1) and total nitrogen loss(average 250 kg km-2 a-1) were lower than inagricultural areas. In forested catchments the impact of forestryoperations, such as clear-cutting and fertilization, and theimpact of atmospheric nitrogen deposition can be seen in changesin nutrient losses.

Trends of phosphorus, nitrogen and chlorophyll a concentrations in Finnish rivers and lakes in 1975-2000.

During recent decades the amounts of nutrients discharged to Finnish surface waters have markedly decreased. This has been achieved by considerable investments in water protection, which were made mainly to improve municipal and industrial wastewater purification. We investigated whether these water protection measures have decreased phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations in Finnish rivers and lakes. In addition, possible trends in chlorophyll a concentrations in lakes were studied. The data consisted of a total of over 68000 monitoring results of 22 rivers and 173 lakes (or sub-basins of lakes) with different types of catchment areas. The study period covered the years 1975-2000 and the non-parametric Kendall Tau b and Seasonal Kendall tests were applied for detecting trends. Decreasing nutrient concentration trends were typical in many lakes and rivers earlier polluted by municipal and industrial wastewaters. Increasing nutrient concentration trends were common in smaller rivers and lakes receiving diffuse loading from agriculture. The results show that the investments directed towards wastewater purification have effectively improved the quality of Finnish inland waters. However, no clear effects of decreasing non-point loading were found. Thus, more effective measures should be directed towards decreasing non-point source loading.

Recovery from acidification of Finnish lakes: regional patterns and relations to emission reduction policy

The regional-scale response of Finnish headwater lakes to changes in acidifying deposition loads was studied using data from a national deposition monitoring network (19 stations), acidification monitoring lakes (163 lakes) and results of a statistically based national lake survey (873 lakes). Data from 1990 to 1999 were used for statistical trend analysis. A deposition model was used to assess changes in S and N deposition for the year 2010, assuming emission reductions according to two international agreements. The deposition of sulfate and H(+) showed statistically significant (Kendall-tau, P<0.05) decreasing trends at nearly all deposition stations. For N compounds, nearly all slopes were negative, but rarely statistically significant. Sulfate concentrations have declined in all types of small lakes throughout Finland in the 1990s (significant decline in 64-85% of the lakes in three different lake regions), indicating a clear response to S emission reductions and declined sulfate deposition. Base cation concentrations decreased in both deposition and lake water, especially in southern Finland, but to a lesser extent than sulfate concentrations. The median slope of the trend for Gran alkalinity in lakes ranged between 0.98 and 2.1 microeq l(-1) a(-1). Some 1400 (27%) of Finnish headwater lakes of size 4-100 ha were estimated to show statistically significant increases in Gran alkalinity (recovery). No large changes were observed in the lake water TOC concentrations. The reduction in S deposition is the main driving factor for the lake acidification recovery process in Finland. Deposition model calculations showed that further large reductions in S deposition beyond the 1999 level are not likely to occur by the year 2010, particularly for southeastern Finland. The mean estimated S deposition change by 2010 for the three lake regions in Finland was only between -0.9 and -6.6% for the two policy scenarios (UN/ECE Gothenburg protocol, EU NEC-directive), respectively. A slower acidification recovery of the lake ecosystems is, therefore, anticipated in the future.

Finnish lake survey, 1995: regional characteristics of lake chemistry

Data sets frorn earlier national surveys, using differing sampling methods, have provided a cornrnon database for calculating critical loads of sulphur and nitrogen for surface waters in Norway, Sweden and Finland (HENRIKSEN et al. 1992). Based upon the cooperative experience gained frorn previous surveys, these countries decided to carry out a joint Nordic Lake Survey in the fali of 1995. The cooperation expanded also to adjacent areas in Denrnark, Russian Kola and Karelia and Scodand and Wales. The Northern European Lake Survey 1995 consisted of about 5,700 lakes in six countries. Sarnpling took place between Septernber 1995 and January 1996 using sirnilar statistical lake selection criteria and harmonized sampling procedures.

Finnish Lake Survey: The Role of Catchment Attributes in Determining Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Organic Carbon Concentrations

This study is based on a Finnish lake survey conducted in 1995, a dataset of 874 statistically selected lakes from the national lake register. The dataset was divided into subgroups to evaluate lake water-catchment relationships in different geographical regions and in lakes of different size. In the three southernmost regions, the coefficients of determination in multiple regression equations varied between 0.40 and 0.53 for total nitrogen (TN) and between 0.37 and 0.53 for total phosphorus (TP); the best interpreters were agricultural land and water area in the catchment. In the two northernmost regions, TN concentrations in lake water were best predicted by the proportion of peatlands in the catchment, the catchment slope, and TP concentrations by lake elevation and latitude. Coefficients of determination in multiple regression equations in these northern regions varied between 0.39 and 0.67 for TN and between 0.41 and 0.52 for TP. For all the subsets formed, the best coefficients of determination explaining TN, TP, and total organic carbon (TOC) were obtained for a subset of large lakes (>10 km2), in which 72–83% of the variation was explained. This was probably due to large heterogeneous catchments of these lakes.

Population responses of perch (Perca fluviatilis) and roach (Rutilus rutilus) to recovery from acidification in small Finnish lakes

Decreasing trends in atmospheric emissions and acidic deposition during the 1990s have resulted in chemical recovery from acidification in the sensitive surface water systems of southern Finland. Responses of perch and roach populations to the improved water quality were studied in 30 small lakes with the aid of water chemistry monitoring data gathered in 1987–2002 and the data collected from two consecutive periods of gillnet test fishing, 1985–1988 and 2001–2002. In the most acidified lakes, alkalinity and ANC have increased and sulphate and labile aluminium concentrations decreasæed markedly. The response of perch populations to the improved water quality is seen in improved reproduction success, indicated by a higher CPUE in numbers and a lower mean weight. The growth rate of perch has declined as the population density has increased. Roach populations have not recovered in the same way as perch, there being no major changes in NPUE or mean weight. Lower growth rates were, however, observed in the roach populations of all study lakes. The increased perch population density as an obstacle to the recovery of roach populations is discussed. Despite the chemical and biological recovery of the study lakes, the buffer capacity of many headwater lakes is low and the lakes will be sensitive to any increases in acidic deposition in the future.

Patterns in Water Quality and Fish Status of Some Acidified Lakes in Southern Finland During a Decade: Recovery Proceeding

Since the early 1980s, the acidic deposition in the northern Europe has decreased substantially. This has resulted in corresponding improvements of the water quality in some acid sensitive small lakes of southern Finland. Among the fish of these lakes, the first signs of recovery were recorded in the early 1990s, when the European perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) started to reproduce in some sparse populations. Since then, the reproduction of perch has been successful in several years. The appearance of strong year-classes in lakes earlier almost empty of fish indicates recovery. This development has resulted in increased population densities, decreased mean sizes of fish and decreased growth rates. In a more acid sensitive species, roach (Rutilus rutilus (L.)), no clear indications of recovery have been recorded this far. However, schools of small roach (age 1+) were observed in the summer of 1998 in two acidic lakes that were inhabited by sparse roach populations during 1985–1995.

Large contribution of boreal upland forest soils to a catchment‐scale CH4 balance in a wet year

Upland forest soils affect the atmospheric methane (CH4) balance, not only through the soil sink but also due to episodic high emissions in wet conditions. We measured methane fluxes and found that during a wet fall the forest soil turned from a CH4 sink into a large source for several months, while the CH4 emissions from a nearby wetland did not increase. When upscaled to the whole catchment area the contribution of forests amounted to 60% of the annual CH4 emission from the wetlands, while in a normal year the forest soil consumes 10% of the wetland emission. The period of high upland soil emission was also captured by the nearby atmospheric concentration measurement station. Since the land cover within the catchment is representative of larger regions, our findings imply that upland forests in the boreal zone constitute an important part in the global CH4 cycle not previously accounted for.

Trend assessment of deposition runoff water fluxes and water chemistry at European ICP Integrated Monitoring sites

Acidifying deposition has been recognized as a severe environmental issue in Europe and North America resulting in coordinated air pollution control strategies, induding monitoring and assessment of air pollutants and affected receptors. As part of the Effects Monitoring Strategy under the Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution Convention of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe {UN/ ECE), the International Cooperative Programme on Integrated Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Ecosystems (ICP IM) provides a framework to observe and understand complex changes occurring in the external ecosystems with the purpose of monitoring and assessing the effects of air pollutants in undisturbed reference areas. Following a sharp increase up to the early 1970s, the European SO, emissions have experienced a dear downward trend over the past few decades. Development in NO, emissions is characterized by relatively high releases in the late 1980s followed by gende decrease both in NO, and NH, emissions during the 1~90s (OLENDRZYNSKI 1997). Thus, the empirical ev1dence on the development of environmental effects is obviously of central importance for the assessment of the success of international emission reduction policy (e.g. LOKEWILLE et al. 1997, VuoRENMAA 1997). The objective of this study was to evaluate trends ( 1988-1996) for deposition and runoff water fluxes and runoff water chemistry in acidification-related variables at 14 forested catchments belonging to the ICP IM network in Europe. The study sites are located in Scandinavia, in the UK and in central and eastern Europe. The geographically extensive dataset permits an evaluation of the responses to emission reductions in different subregions o f Europe.