Widespread loss of lake ice around the Northern Hemisphere in a warming world

Sharma, Sapna; Blagrave, Kevin; Magnuson, John J.; O’Reilly, Catherine M.; Oliver, Samantha; Batt, Ryan D.; Magee, Madeline R.; Straile, Dietmar; Weyhenmeyer, Gesa A.; Winslow, Luke; Woolway, R. Iestyn

doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0393-5

Cited by 388 publications

(419 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Although incoming solar radiation increases with altitude, greater amount of snow days and snow depth at higher elevation may increase the albedo of the area and reflect the energy that would melt the snow and ice (Blumthaler et al 1997;Jensen et al 2007). Similarly, Sharma et al (2019) found that deeper lakes at lower elevations were most vulnerable to losing annual winter ice cover. Therefore, as temperatures continue to warm, shallow high-elevation lakes are most likely to conserve their ice seasons in the winter.…”

Section: Driversmentioning

confidence: 98%

Reaching a breaking point: How is climate change influencing the timing of ice breakup in lakes across the northern hemisphere?

Lopez

Hewitt

Sharma

2019

Limnology & Oceanography

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The duration of seasonal winter ice cover has declined in many mid‐ and high‐latitude regions around the world as climate continues to warm. We obtained data on lake ice breakup dates, air temperature, precipitation, and large‐scale climate oscillations for 152 lakes across the northern hemisphere from 1951 to 2014. Ninety‐seven percent of study lakes exhibited earlier ice breakup trends. Forty‐six percent of the variation in ice breakup trends was driven by spring air temperatures and elevation across the northern hemisphere. However, changes in ice breakup have not always been in a gradual or linear pattern. Using the sequential T‐test analysis of regime shifts, we found evidence of abrupt changes in mean ice breakup for 53% of lakes with shift years identified between 1970 and 2002. Concurrently, we found abrupt changes in mean spring and winter air temperatures, winter precipitation, and large‐scale climate oscillations that occurred either the same year or 1 yr prior. Earlier ice breakup and the shortening of the ice season will have consequences for winter heritage, local economies, and lake ecosystems around the world.

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Section: Driversmentioning

confidence: 98%

Reaching a breaking point: How is climate change influencing the timing of ice breakup in lakes across the northern hemisphere?

Lopez

Hewitt

Sharma

2019

Limnology & Oceanography

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“…Observations show that, collectively, these lakes are both warming and shortening the duration of their ice cover (Magnuson et al, 2000;O'Reilly et al, 2015;Woolway & Merchant, 2019). Changes to the thermal regime of ice-covered lakes can have diverse impacts, ranging from the loss of physical and cultural ecosystem services to the amplification of greenhouse gas emissions (Downing, 2010;DelSontro et al, 2018;Sharma et al, 2019). Nevertheless, the processes controlling heat fluxes, lateral transport, and temperature distribution in ice-covered waterbodies remain only partially characterized (Huang et al, 2019;Kirillin et al, 2018;Leppäranta, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential Heating Drives Downslope Flows that Accelerate Mixed‐Layer Warming in Ice‐Covered Waters

Ulloa

Winters

Wüest

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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In ice-covered lakes, penetrative radiation warms fluid beneath a diffusive boundary layer, thereby increasing its density and providing energy for convection in a diurnally active, deepening mixed layer. Shallow regions are differentially heated to warmer temperatures, driving turbulent gravity currents that transport warm water downslope and into the basin interior. We examine the energetics of these processes, focusing on the rate at which penetrative radiation supplies energy that is available to drive fluid motion. Using numerical simulations that resolve convective plumes, gravity currents, and the secondary instabilities leading to entrainment, we show that advective fluxes due to differential heating contribute to the evolution of the mixed layer in waterbodies with significant shallow areas. A heat balance is used to assess the relative importance of differential heating to the one-dimensional effects of radiative heating and diffusive cooling at the ice-water interface in lakes of varying morphologies. Plain Language SummaryLake ice cover is one of the essential climate variables defined by the World Meteorological Organization. Its evolution is affected by direct meteorological forcing and by ice-penetrating radiation that heats near-surface waters and excites buoyancy-driven fluid motions. Both effects regulate water-to-ice heat transfer and thus the ice melting rate. We show how the warming of under-ice water is impacted by differential heating of the lake shallows and the resultant transport and mixing. We present a scaling analysis that quantifies how the rate of under-ice, mixed-layer warming depends on geometrical properties of the lake morphology. Accounting for differential heating and lateral transport is essential for processed-based models of ice-covered waterbodies that go beyond one-dimensional balances.

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“…Despite the ecological importance of planktonic bacteria in ice-covered lakes (e.g., Danz et al, 2007;Newton et al, 2011;Schindler, 2009;Vick & Priscu, 2012), little knowledge exists on bacterial segregation between the liquid and solid phase during the lake ice freezing process. Understanding the interplay between ice formation and lake ecology is increasingly important, as large-scale losses in lake ice are predicted in the coming decades (Sharma et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential Incorporation of Bacteria, Organic Matter, and Inorganic Ions Into Lake Ice During Ice Formation

et al. 2019

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The segregation of bacteria, inorganic solutes, and total organic carbon between liquid water and ice during winter ice formation on lakes can significantly influence the concentration and survival of microorganisms in icy systems and their roles in biogeochemical processes. Our study quantifies the distributions of bacteria and solutes between liquid and solid water phases during progressive freezing. We simulated lake ice formation in mesocosm experiments using water from perennially (Antarctica) and seasonally (Alaska and Montana, United States) ice‐covered lakes. We then computed concentration factors and effective segregation coefficients, which are parameters describing the incorporation of bacteria and solutes into ice. Experimental results revealed that, contrary to major ions, bacteria were readily incorporated into ice and did not concentrate in the liquid phase. The organic matter incorporated into the ice was labile, amino acid‐like material, differing from the humic‐like compounds that remained in the liquid phase. Results from a control mesocosm experiment (dead bacterial cells) indicated that viability of bacterial cells did not influence the incorporation of free bacterial cells into ice, but did have a role in the formation and incorporation of bacterial aggregates. Together, these findings demonstrate that bacteria, unlike other solutes, were preferentially incorporated into lake ice during our freezing experiments, a process controlled mainly by the initial solute concentration of the liquid water source, regardless of cell viability.

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Widespread loss of lake ice around the Northern Hemisphere in a warming world

Cited by 388 publications

References 29 publications

Reaching a breaking point: How is climate change influencing the timing of ice breakup in lakes across the northern hemisphere?

Reaching a breaking point: How is climate change influencing the timing of ice breakup in lakes across the northern hemisphere?

Differential Heating Drives Downslope Flows that Accelerate Mixed‐Layer Warming in Ice‐Covered Waters

Differential Incorporation of Bacteria, Organic Matter, and Inorganic Ions Into Lake Ice During Ice Formation

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