Funds are awarded to this Post-doctoral Fellow to explore the reasons behind the observed inconsistency between the nutrient retention hypothesis and observations of nitrogen budgets in high latitude catchments areas. She hypothesizes that this may be due to spatial and temporal inhomogeneities in nutrient processing along flowpaths. She will conduct observations of the manner in which permafrost extent influences the sources and forms of nitrogen as well as the relative rates of reaction and transport of nitrogen as a function of permafrost depth. This will be accomplished at a series of scales ? regional, hillslope, and soil profile scales. Observations will be made of both naturally occurring tracers and introduced tracers.
