Hydrological drought at high latitudes represents a rising environmental hazard induced byglobal climate change. Yet, we still know little about how drought events influence thebiogeochemistry of boreal streams. Here, I used 15 years of data from eight streams withinthe Krycklan Catchment to test how interannual variability in summer low flows influencesstream water chemistry. My analysis focused several key biogeochemical indicators in thesestreams, including concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organicnitrogen (DON), nitrate (NO3) and ammonium (NH4), as well as the total C/N and NH4/NO3ratios. Overall, results revealed widespread declines in summer average DOC concentrationsand C/N ratios with greater drought severity. These responses likely reflect shifts in thebiogeochemical properties of soils that feed streams during high- versus low-flow summers.By comparison, nitrogen-based parameters were less clearly influenced by drought, exceptfor in mire-dominated headwaters, where NH4 and DON both increased during the lowestflow periods. Overall, the strong effects of flow variability drove a high degree of interannualsynchrony for DOC and C/N across all sites in the drainage system. This synchrony was morevariable overall for nitrogen-based parameters, with several sites having unique year-to-yearchanges in concentrations and ratios. However, strong temporal coherence for NH4 acrossforested streams suggest other broad-scale factors (e.g., related to forest processes) mayregulate interannual patterns for this nutrient. Collectively, results provide insight into howincreases in drought frequency and severity may alter boreal streams and rivers in the future.

Inland waters are important systems for transforming, storing and transporting carbon along the aquatic continuum, but also by emitting carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. In light of the last decades observed increase in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in many inland waters across the northern hemisphere, a logical question arise whether other aquatic carbon species display similar trends. This study examined the measured concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in a boreal catchment over a 14-year period. The objectives were to determine changes in DIC concentration over time and try to explain the causes for the observed changes. Data from 15 mostly forested sub-catchments were analyzed, both over the full time period, and grouped by season. Over the full 14-year period, only two of the sites exhibited significant trends in DIC concentration, both being negative. However, by seasonally grouping the data distinct patterns for the different seasons emerged. The autumn and winter data displayed no significant trends, whereas the spring flood data showed significant negative trends for almost all sites (14 out of 15). The summer data showed significant negative trends for seven sites, and positive for one site. The DIC concentration data were expectedly positively correlated with pH across most sites (13 out of 15). The correlation with DOC was negative for most sites (11 out of 15), possibly indicating different origins of the different carbon species. The DIC concentration was also negatively correlated with discharge for most sites (13 out of 15), suggesting a diluting effect with increased discharge. In conclusion, significant negative trends were observed during the spring flood and summer periods. Although the cause of these trends will require further investigation, the correlation analysis showed that the DIC concentration was closely related to the catchment hydrology. This suggests changes in terrestrial source areas where DIC is mobilized during spring and summer, and that these changes might continue during altered hydrometeorological conditions. The differences in DIC trends between sub-catchments further show the variability of the boreal landscape and highlight the need for local-scale process understanding when scaling to larger landscape units. We further conclude that trends in DIC concentration do not follow observed DOC changes over time, suggesting that DIC and DOC exports are mechanistically decoupled.