OBSERVING AND MODELLING GROUNDWATER DEPENDENT ECOSYSTEMS IN COLD CLIMATE (Invited Presentation)

In boreal regions, ground water dependent ecosystems (GDEs) are widespread and often connected to shallow aquifers and various surface water systems. GDEs include springs, peatlands, streams and lakes. This review looks into studies from Finland and elsewhere on hydrogeological processes in GDEs, with examples from the boreal and the sub-arctic zones. As peatlands are the dominant wetland type and terrestrial GDE of this region, these will be presented in more detail. The traditional conceptual models for peatlands will be discussed. The hydrology of the systems such as different water holding properties, runoff and groundwater interaction will be presented. Recent research examples on methods to observe these systems with environmental tracers and drones will be presented. Different conceptual models for GDE will be presented with recent advances on integrated numerical modelling.