Dissolved organic carbon in northern catchments and understanding hydroclimatic controls

Northern Watershed Ecosystem Response to Climate Change (North-Watch)Workshop II: Hydrological Regulation of Stream DOC in Northern Catchments; Vindeln, Sweden, 11-15 April 2010; Predicting the integrated consequences of climate change on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of water resources is a difficult area of interdisciplinary environmental science. Fortunately, in many areas, research catchments have been established that provide the best longer-term data sets that encompass integrated measurement of the linkages between the climate, hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecology of river systems and how these are being affected by climatic change. North-Watch is an interdisciplinary intersite comparison project funded by the Leverhulme Trust, in London, and run by the Northern Rivers Institute, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom. It aims to analyze long-term data from experimental catchments including sensitive boreal, subarctic, and subalpine environments ranging from the Yukon to northern Sweden to the Scottish Cairngorms. The goal is to assess the integrated physical, chemical, and biological response to climatic change.