ABSTRACT:

This data is associated with a manuscript in the Canadian Journal or Water Resource. The abstract for the manuscript is provided below.

In flat terrain and humid climates, raised bogs can form the topographic watershed boundary of protected source watersheds. In these cases, only half of the “bisected bog” is protected. We consider if these bisected bogs should be included in source water protection areas by exploring how drainage in the unprotected side of the bog may impact the protected watershed. Groundwater monitoring and slug tests were performed in a transect of piezometers in a large, bisected bog in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada to constrain a groundwater flow model. Under varying drainage scenarios (1 m, 3 m and complete harvest), simulations showed that the groundwater divide shifts 41 to 398 m inwards, 219,000 m3 to 1,570,000 m3 of water storage are lost and up to 23,600 to 156,100 tonnes of soil carbon become unstable. These findings suggest that it is illogical to protect only part of a bisected bog and that the entire bog should be protected to preserve hydrologic functionality. A GIS analysis revealed that bisected bogs are common in source water protection areas in the province. We provide recommendations for water managers to identify and address bisected wetlands to improve source water protection and maintain wetland ecosystem services.

ABSTRACT:

This data and R code accompanies a submitted journal article. The manuscript abstract is as follows:

Mountains have a critical role in freshwater supply for downstream populations. As the climate changes, groundwater stored in mountains may help buffer the impacts to declining water resources caused by decreased snowpack and glacier recession. However, given the scarcity of groundwater observation wells in mountain regions, it remains unclear how mountain groundwater is being impacted by climate change across ecoregions. This study quantifies temporal trends in mountain groundwater levels and explores how various climatic, physiographic, and anthropogenic factors affect these trends. We compiled data from 171 public groundwater observation wells within mountain regions across Canada and the United States, for which at least 20 years of monthly data is available. The Mann-Kendall test for monotonic trend revealed that 54% of these wells have statistically significant temporal trends (p < 0.05) over the period of record, of which 69% were negative and therefore indicating overall declining groundwater storage. Wells in the western mountain ranges showed stronger trends (both positive and negative) than the eastern mountain ranges, and higher elevation wells showed fewer negative trends than the low elevation (< 400 m asl) wells (p < 0.05). Correlation, Kruskal-Wallis tests, stepwise multiple linear regression and random forest regression were used to identify factors controlling groundwater trends. Statistical analysis revealed that lower-elevation mountain regions with higher average annual temperatures and lower average annual precipitation have the greatest declines in groundwater storage under climate change. Trends in temperature and precipitation, and ecoregion were also important predictors on groundwater level trends, highlighting geographic differences in how mountain wells are responding to climate change. Furthermore, sedimentary bedrock aquifers showed markedly more negative trends than crystalline bedrock aquifers. The findings demonstrate that the impact of climate change on mountain water resources extends to the subsurface, with important implications for global water resources.

ABSTRACT:

This data accompanies a manuscript submission for a study of methane dynamics in a tropical peatland drainage canal.
The data includes:
(1) Concentration of dissolved methane, carbon dioxide and d13C (isotopic signature) for canal water and peat porewater from a disturbed tropical peatland in Badas, Brunei Darussalam.
(2) Major Ion chemistry data for porewater and canal water
(3) Levelogger data files which were used to calculate streamflow.
(4) Matlab model codes used in the publication. The Matlab script is also available from a GitHub repository: https://github.com/Lauren-Somers/Badas_Methane