Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley, Antarctica: a Natural Solar Energy Trap

Hoare, R. A.; Popplewell, K. B.; House, D. A.; Henderson, R. A.; Prebble, W. M.; Wilson, A. T.

doi:10.1038/202886a0

Cited by 42 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…An analysis of these profiles has shown that they are likely the result of long‐term solar heating [ Wilson and Wellman , 1962]. This has been confirmed by static modeling efforts [ Hoare et al , 1964; Shirtcliffe and Benseman , 1964], however there has been no attempt to simulate their thermal properties by way of a dynamic model.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Simulated heat storage in a perennially ice‐covered high Arctic lake: Sensitivity to climate change

2008

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[1] Perennially ice-covered, meromictic lakes occur along the northern coast of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian high Arctic and have distinctive conductivity and temperature profiles. They are salinity stratified and have deep thermal maxima that persist throughout the year at temperatures up to 60°C above the winter minimum in the overlying atmosphere. Heat transfer in one of these lakes (Lake A, latitude 83.0°N, longitude 75.4°W) was simulated using a high spatial resolution model based on a one-dimensional heat diffusion and radiative transfer equation, which was solved through numerical integration. Boundary conditions were forced using climate data from an automated weather station installed next to the lake. There was a good fit between simulated and observed water column temperatures, including the midwater temperature maximum of 8.5°C, after 63 years of heating (RMSE = 0.10°C). This suggests that Lake A became ice-free in the 1940s, a known period of intense warming of the circumpolar Arctic. The model was sensitive to forcing by photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, 400-700 nm), in addition to optically related parameters such as surface reflectance, snow and ice cover, and the PAR diffuse attenuation coefficient. The unusual thermal structure is affected by stratified layers of pigmented microbial communities, which enhance the absorption of solar radiation. Simulation of ice-free summers revealed that the lake's thermal profile would lose its characteristic shape over several decades and that ongoing climate change could reduce the thermal maximum from 8.5°to 4°C within 50 years.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Simulated heat storage in a perennially ice‐covered high Arctic lake: Sensitivity to climate change

2008

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“…Even small amounts of such energy absorbed lead to a sensible rise in the water temperatures. This fact is clearly demonstrated in Lake Bonney [10].…”

Section: Water Temperatures During Summer 1966mentioning

confidence: 63%

The primary production and its influence on the meromictic stability in lake svinsjøen

Kjensmo

1968

Schweiz. Z. Hydrologie

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“…Beneath such a thickness of perennial ice, photosynthetic activity and thus biogenic sedimentation is still possible (e.g. Hoare et al 1964, Doran et al 1994 as light can penetrate through the ice to the water column along large, strongly oriented, vertical prismatic ice crystals (e.g. Chambers et al 1986, Hoare et al 1964, Loopmann 1988.…”

Section: Lacustrine Sedimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hoare et al 1964, Doran et al 1994 as light can penetrate through the ice to the water column along large, strongly oriented, vertical prismatic ice crystals (e.g. Chambers et al 1986, Hoare et al 1964, Loopmann 1988. Kaup (1995a, p. 287) measured the albedo of lake ice in the Schirmacher Oasis over a summer season, and found that it increased with age as air penetrated along the crystal boundaries.…”

Section: Lacustrine Sedimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blanketing snow and ice; constraints on radiocarbon dating deglaciation in East Antarctic oases

Gore

1997

Antartic science

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Radiocarbon dating of marine, lacustrine or terrestrial biogenic deposits is the main technique used to determine when deglaciation of the oases of East Antarctica occurred. However, at many of the oases of East Antarctica, including the Schirmacher Oasis, Stillwell Hills, Amery Oasis, Larsemann Hills, Taylor Islands and Grearson Oasis, snow and ice presently forms extensive blankets that fills valleys and some lake basins, covers perennial lake ice and in places overwhelms local topography to form ice domes up to hundreds of square kilometres in area. Field observations from Larsemann Hills and Taylor Islands suggest that under these conditions, terrestrial and lacustrine biogenic sedimentation is neither widespread nor abundant. If similar conditions prevailed in and around the oases immediately following retreat of the ice sheet, then a lengthy hiatus might exist between deglaciation and the onset of widespread or abundant biogenic sedimentation. As a result, radiocarbon dating might be a clumsy tool with which to reconstruct deglaciation history, and independent dating methods that record emergence of the hilltops from the continental ice must be employed as well.

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Lake Bonney, Taylor Valley, Antarctica: a Natural Solar Energy Trap

Cited by 42 publications

References 2 publications

Simulated heat storage in a perennially ice‐covered high Arctic lake: Sensitivity to climate change

Simulated heat storage in a perennially ice‐covered high Arctic lake: Sensitivity to climate change

The primary production and its influence on the meromictic stability in lake svinsjøen

Blanketing snow and ice; constraints on radiocarbon dating deglaciation in East Antarctic oases

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