We assessed which factors control summer epilimnion thickness in arctic lakes of southwest Greenland. A suite of 22 lakes that thermally stratify was measured in the summer of 2013; a sub‐set of eight of the lakes was measured again in 2014, which was a warmer summer than 2013. Regression analysis of the 22 lakes indicated that the 1% attenuation depth for photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was the strongest single predictor (R2 = 0.75) of epilimnion thickness across lakes; the addition of epilimnion temperature to the PAR model explained additional variability (R2 = 0.79). The importance of including temperature in the model was apparent in the results of model validation as well as when comparing across years: while the 1% PAR was 0.4–2 m deeper in 2014 compared with 2013, water temperatures were 2–3°C higher, resulting in July epilimnion thicknesses that were equal to or shallower than in 2013. In these lakes with low color dissolved organic carbon (DOC), multiple factors control the 1% PAR, including absorbance at 440 nm (a440), 380 nm (a380), and 320 (a320), chlorophyll a (Chl a) and DOC concentration. In 2014, when 1% PAR was deeper than in 2013, a380, Chl a and DOC were lower in six of the eight lakes. Our results reveal that the thermal structure of these arctic lakes is under complex control by air temperatures and factors that affect PAR attenuation, particularly Chl a and DOC quality, suggesting that continued warming in the Arctic will have strong effects on lake stratification.

The Kangerlussuaq area of southwest Greenland encompasses diverse ecological, geomorphic, and climate gradients that function over a range of spatial and temporal scales. Ecosystems range from the microbial communities on the ice sheet and moisture-stressed terrestrial vegetation (and their associated herbivores) to freshwater and oligosaline lakes. These ecosystems are linked by a dynamic glacio-fluvial-aeolian geomorphic system that transports water, geological material, organic carbon and nutrients from the glacier surface to adjacent terrestrial and aquatic systems. This paraglacial system is now subject to substantial change because of rapid regional warming since 2000. Here, we describe changes in the eco- and geomorphic systems at a range of timescales and explore rapid future change in the links that integrate these systems. We highlight the importance of cross-system subsidies at the landscape scale and, importantly, how these might change in the near future as the Arctic is expected to continue to warm.

Prediction of high latitude response to climate change is hampered by poor understanding of the role of nonlinear changes in ecosystem forcing and response. While the effects of nonlinear climate change are often delayed or dampened by internal ecosystem dynamics, recent warming events in the Arctic have driven rapid environmental response, raising questions of how terrestrial and freshwater systems in this region may shift in response to abrupt climate change. We quantified environmental responses to recent abrupt climate change in West Greenland using long-term monitoring and paleoecological reconstructions. Using >40 years of weather data, we found that after 1994, mean June air temperatures shifted 2.2°C higher and mean winter precipitation doubled from 21 to 40 mm; since 2006, mean July air temperatures shifted 1.1°C higher. Nonlinear environmental responses occurred with or shortly after these abrupt climate shifts, including increasing ice sheet discharge, increasing dust, advancing plant phenology, and in lakes, earlier ice out and greater diversity of algal functional traits. Our analyses reveal rapid environmental responses to nonlinear climate shifts, underscoring the highly responsive nature of Arctic ecosystems to abrupt transitions.

A key indicator of changes in the terrestrial carbon cycle is shifting dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in surface waters. Arctic permafrost holds twice as much C as the atmosphere, thus recent warming and changes in atmospheric deposition to the region raise the need for a better understanding of how DOC is changing in arctic surface waters. In Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, lakewater DOC concentrations declined by 14 to 55% (absolute changes of 1 to 24 mg L−1) between 2003 and 2013, without significant changes in quality. Lakewater sulfate concentrations, but not chloride or conductivity, increased. These results suggest that similar to processes that have occurred at northern midlatitudes, increases in soil ionic strength as a result of sulfate enrichment may be linked to declining surface water DOC concentrations. Such enrichment may be occurring with enhanced non‐sea‐salt sulfate deposition. Our results reveal that rapid changes are occurring in the carbon cycle of this region of southwest Greenland.

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