Surface hydrology Characteristics of inland patchy wetlands in Southern and Western Iceland

Icelandic inland wetlands were drained after World War II for agricultural production. These wetlands provide the habitat for migratory birds and act as carbon sinks. There is little information on the local hydrology of patchy wetlands or effects from ditching. Infiltration trials, transects of near-surface soil moisture and surface albedo, and soil stratigraphy for volcanic and organic soils were collected for comparison across wetland soils in southern and western Iceland. Wet antecedent moisture conditions led to total saturation for the majority of samples. Final infiltration capacities (0.006-0.09 mm s-1) were comparable to previous infiltration rates from other Arctic studies, while tephra had limited impacts on infiltration. Soil moisture and albedo comparisons (most p-values < 0.05, 0.001) between regional drained and undisturbed locations revealed drainage has impacted the surface hydrology characteristics of disturbed wetlands, suggesting this could be the case for other drained wetlands across Iceland.