High Arctic lakes as sentinel ecosystems: Cascading regime shifts in climate, ice cover, and mixing
Climate and cryospheric observations have shown that the high Arctic has experienced several decades of rapid environmental change, with warming rates well above the global average. In this study, we address the hypothesis that this climatic warming affects deep, ice-covered lakes in the region by c...
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ftcarletonunivir:oai:carleton.ca:25921 2023-05-15T14:57:44+02:00 High Arctic lakes as sentinel ecosystems: Cascading regime shifts in climate, ice cover, and mixing Mueller, D. (Derek) Van Hove, P. (Patrick) Antoniades, D. (Dermot) Jeffries, M.O. (Martin O.) Vincent, W.F. (Warwick F.) 2009-01-01 https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/25921 https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2009.54.6_part_2.2371 en eng https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/25921 doi:10.4319/lo.2009.54.6_part_2.2371 Limnology and Oceanography vol. 54 no. 6 PART 2, pp. 2371-2385 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2009 ftcarletonunivir https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2009.54.6_part_2.2371 2022-02-06T21:51:19Z Climate and cryospheric observations have shown that the high Arctic has experienced several decades of rapid environmental change, with warming rates well above the global average. In this study, we address the hypothesis that this climatic warming affects deep, ice-covered lakes in the region by causing abrupt, threshold-dependent shifts rather than slow, continuous responses. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data show that lakes (one freshwater and four permanently stratified) on Ellesmere Island at the far northern coastline of Canada have experienced significant reductions in summer ice cover over the last decade. The stratified lakes were characterized by strong biogeochemical gradients, yet temperature and salinity profiles of their upper water columns (5-20 m) indicated recent mixing, consistent with loss of their perennial ice and exposure to wind. Although subject to six decades of warming at a rate of 0.5°C decade-1, these lakes were largely unaffected until a regime shift in air temperature in the 1980s and 1990s when warming crossed a critical threshold forcing the loss of ice cover. This transition from perennial to annual ice cover caused another regime shift whereby previously stable upper water columns were subjected to mixing. Far northern lakes are responding discontinuously to climate-driven change via a cascade of regime Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Ellesmere Island Carleton University's Institutional Repository Arctic Canada Ellesmere Island Limnology and Oceanography 54 6part2 2371 2385 |
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Open Polar |
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Carleton University's Institutional Repository |
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ftcarletonunivir |
language |
English |
description |
Climate and cryospheric observations have shown that the high Arctic has experienced several decades of rapid environmental change, with warming rates well above the global average. In this study, we address the hypothesis that this climatic warming affects deep, ice-covered lakes in the region by causing abrupt, threshold-dependent shifts rather than slow, continuous responses. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data show that lakes (one freshwater and four permanently stratified) on Ellesmere Island at the far northern coastline of Canada have experienced significant reductions in summer ice cover over the last decade. The stratified lakes were characterized by strong biogeochemical gradients, yet temperature and salinity profiles of their upper water columns (5-20 m) indicated recent mixing, consistent with loss of their perennial ice and exposure to wind. Although subject to six decades of warming at a rate of 0.5°C decade-1, these lakes were largely unaffected until a regime shift in air temperature in the 1980s and 1990s when warming crossed a critical threshold forcing the loss of ice cover. This transition from perennial to annual ice cover caused another regime shift whereby previously stable upper water columns were subjected to mixing. Far northern lakes are responding discontinuously to climate-driven change via a cascade of regime |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mueller, D. (Derek) Van Hove, P. (Patrick) Antoniades, D. (Dermot) Jeffries, M.O. (Martin O.) Vincent, W.F. (Warwick F.) |
spellingShingle |
Mueller, D. (Derek) Van Hove, P. (Patrick) Antoniades, D. (Dermot) Jeffries, M.O. (Martin O.) Vincent, W.F. (Warwick F.) High Arctic lakes as sentinel ecosystems: Cascading regime shifts in climate, ice cover, and mixing |
author_facet |
Mueller, D. (Derek) Van Hove, P. (Patrick) Antoniades, D. (Dermot) Jeffries, M.O. (Martin O.) Vincent, W.F. (Warwick F.) |
author_sort |
Mueller, D. (Derek) |
title |
High Arctic lakes as sentinel ecosystems: Cascading regime shifts in climate, ice cover, and mixing |
title_short |
High Arctic lakes as sentinel ecosystems: Cascading regime shifts in climate, ice cover, and mixing |
title_full |
High Arctic lakes as sentinel ecosystems: Cascading regime shifts in climate, ice cover, and mixing |
title_fullStr |
High Arctic lakes as sentinel ecosystems: Cascading regime shifts in climate, ice cover, and mixing |
title_full_unstemmed |
High Arctic lakes as sentinel ecosystems: Cascading regime shifts in climate, ice cover, and mixing |
title_sort |
high arctic lakes as sentinel ecosystems: cascading regime shifts in climate, ice cover, and mixing |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/25921 https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2009.54.6_part_2.2371 |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Ellesmere Island |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Ellesmere Island |
genre |
Arctic Ellesmere Island |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ellesmere Island |
op_source |
Limnology and Oceanography vol. 54 no. 6 PART 2, pp. 2371-2385 |
op_relation |
https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/25921 doi:10.4319/lo.2009.54.6_part_2.2371 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2009.54.6_part_2.2371 |
container_title |
Limnology and Oceanography |
container_volume |
54 |
container_issue |
6part2 |
container_start_page |
2371 |
op_container_end_page |
2385 |
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1766329864000897024 |