Evidence of summer thermal stratification in extreme northern lakes

Rapid warming in the High Arctic has induced changes in terrestrial environments that have included major recent shifts in lakes and ponds. Numerous studies exist of spatial trends in water chemistry, bioindicator groups and paleoenvironmental change from high Arctic lakes, however little is known a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Arctic Science
Main Authors: Antoniades, Dermot, Klanten, Yohanna, Cameron, Emma, Garcia-Oteyza, Julia, Oliva, Marc, Vincent, Warwick F.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2023
Subjects:
General Earth and Planetary Sciences
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
General Environmental Science
Arctic
Ellesmere Island
Markham
Clements Markham
Clements Markham Inlet
polar desert
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/as-2023-0037
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/AS-2023-0037
Description
Summary:Rapid warming in the High Arctic has induced changes in terrestrial environments that have included major recent shifts in lakes and ponds. Numerous studies exist of spatial trends in water chemistry, bioindicator groups and paleoenvironmental change from high Arctic lakes, however little is known about lake thermal stratification regimes at high latitudes beyond assumptions based on generalized classification schemes. Here, we report on the presence in late July 2022 of positive thermal stratification in two lakes near Clements Markham Inlet, on northern Ellesmere Island. These lakes are situated in the polar desert at 82.6 °N, >1000 km north of the generally accepted northern limit of summer thermal stratification. Given their location approaching the northernmost land on Earth, the thermal profiles of these lakes suggest that the occurrence of summer stratification may no longer be discounted anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere.

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