Abstract. This article reports the results of three field campaigns conducted in
Lake Issyk-Kul in 2015, 2016, and 2017. During the campaigns, CTD profiling
and water sampling were performed at 34 locations all over the lake. A
total of 75 CTD profiles were obtained. Some biogeochemical and thermohaline
parameters at the lake surface were also mapped at high horizontal resolution
along the ship's track. In addition, thermistor chains were deployed at three
mooring stations in the eastern littoral region of the lake, yielding
147-day-long records of temperature data. The measurements revealed that – while
the thermal state of the active layer, as well as some biogeochemical
characteristics, were subject to significant interannual variability mediated
by atmospheric forcing – the haline structure of the entire lake was
remarkably stable at the interannual scale. Our data do not confirm the
reports of progressive warming of the deep Issyk-Kul waters as suggested in
some previous publications. However, they do indicate a positive trend of
salinity in the lake's interior over the last 3 decades. A noteworthy newly
found feature is a weak but persistent salinity maximum below the thermocline
at a depth of 70–120 m, from where salinity slightly decreased downwards.
The data from the moored thermistor chains support the previously published
hypothesis about the significant role of the submerged ancient riverbeds on the
eastern shelf in advecting littoral waters into the deep portion of the lake
during differential cooling period. We hypothesize that the less saline
littoral water penetrating into the deep layers due to this mechanism is
responsible for the abovementioned features of salinity profile, and we
substantiate this hypothesis by estimates based on simple model assumptions.