Author(s): Xiaoyu Zhang; Yuntong She; Yang Liu; Wenming Zhang
Linked Author(s): Yang Liu, Wenming Zhang, Yuntong She
Keywords: River ice Ice break-up monitoring Water quality Temporal and spatial variations
Abstract: Rivers in cold regions experience ice-covered periods. However, the influence of river ice cover and drifting ice floes on water quality has been understudied, especially during the ice breakup period. In this study, we investigated the spatial and temporal variations of different nitrogen species (TN, TON, NO3-N, and NH4-N), chloride (Cl-), total organic carbon (TOC), and total suspended solids (TSS) under the river ice breakup process, i. e., from fully ice-cover to open water, in the North Saskatchewan River at Edmonton, Canada. The spatial variabilities of nitrogen species and Cl- concentrations were similar in both 2023 and 2024, with high concentrations at the downstream two cross-sections (Rundle Park and NE Henday). TN concentration showed the strongest lateral variation within NE Henday, with higher concentration on the right bank, which matched the transverse dispersion from the Gold Bar WWTP. The trends in the temporal variation of nitrogen and Cl- were similar, changing through different stages of the breakup. Possible factors such as river discharge, water level, precipitation, temperature, ice concentration as well as the inter-relations among parameters were investigated. River discharge, water level, and ice concentration showed strong correlations with nitrogen species, while total dissolved solids (TDS) had the strongest inter-relations with other parameters, indicating sediment transport may have impacts on water quality.
Year: 2025