IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcli/v13y2023i4d10.1038_s41558-023-01620-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Large sinuous rivers are slowing down in a warming Arctic

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandro Ielpi

    (University of British Columbia Okanagan)

  • Mathieu G. A. Lapôtre

    (Stanford University)

  • Alvise Finotello

    (University of Padova
    Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

  • Pascale Roy-Léveillée

    (Université Laval)

Abstract

Arctic regions are disproportionately affected by atmospheric warming, with cascading effects on multiple surface processes. Atmospheric warming is destabilizing permafrost, which could weaken riverbanks and in turn increase the lateral mobility of their channels. Here, using timelapse analysis of satellite imagery, we show that the lateral migration of large Arctic sinuous rivers has decreased by about 20% over the last half-century, at a mean rate of 3.7‰ per year. Through a comparison with rivers in non-permafrost regions, we hypothesize that the observed migration slowdown is rooted in a series of indirect effects driven by atmospheric warming, such as bank shrubification and decline in overland flow and seepage discharge along channel banks, linked in turn to permafrost thaw. As lower migration rates directly impact the residence timescales of sediment and organic matter in floodplains, these surprising results may lead to important ramifications for watershed-scale carbon budgets and climate feedbacks.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Ielpi & Mathieu G. A. Lapôtre & Alvise Finotello & Pascale Roy-Léveillée, 2023. "Large sinuous rivers are slowing down in a warming Arctic," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 13(4), pages 375-381, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:13:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1038_s41558-023-01620-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01620-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01620-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41558-023-01620-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alvise Finotello & Alessandro Ielpi & Mathieu G. A. Lapôtre & Eli D. Lazarus & Massimiliano Ghinassi & Luca Carniello & Serena Favaro & Davide Tognin & Andrea D’Alpaos, 2024. "Vegetation enhances curvature-driven dynamics in meandering rivers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:13:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1038_s41558-023-01620-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.