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Water and nitrogen processes along a typical water flowpath and streamwater exports from a forested catchment and changes after clear-cutting: a modelling study
1Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Centre, Yliopistokatu 6, P.O. Box 68 FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finnland
2Laboratory of Water Resources, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. Box 5300 FIN-02015 TKK, Finnland
3University of Joensuu, Faculty of Forestry, P.O. Box 111, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finnland
4North Karelia Regional Environment Centre, P.O. Box 69 FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finnland
Abstract. A two dimensional model, FEMMA, to describe water and nitrogen (N) fluxes within and from a forested first-order catchment (Kangasvaara in Eastern Finland) was constructed by linking the most significant processes affecting the fluxes of water, ammonium, nitrate and dissolved organic nitrogen along a hillslope from the water divide to the stream. The hillslope represents the average flowpath of water in the catchment and the model was used to estimate the N fluxes for a catchment in eastern Finland before and after clear-cutting. The simulated results were in reasonable agreement with the nitrate, dissolved organic N and dissolved total N measurements from the study catchment and with other results in the literature. According to the simulations, the major sinks of N after clear-cutting were immobilisation by soil microbes, uptake by ground vegetation and sorption to soil. These sinks increased downslope from the clear-cut area, indicating the importance of an uncut buffer zone between the stream and the clear-cut area in reducing N exports. The buffer zone retained 76% of the N flux coming from the clear-cut area. Nitrification was a key process in controlling the N export after clear-cutting and N increases were mainly as nitrate. Most of the annual N export took place during the spring flood, when uptake of N by plants was minimal.
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Citation: Laurén, A., Finér, L., Koivusalo, H., Kokkonen, T., Karvonen, T., Kellomäki, S., Mannerkoski, H., and Ahtiainen, M.: Water and nitrogen processes along a typical water flowpath and streamwater exports from a forested catchment and changes after clear-cutting: a modelling study, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 9, 657-674, 2005. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager
