Adaptation of Fildes Peninsula Lakes (King George Island, East Antarctica) to climate change and anthropogenic impacts

• Main Authors: I. V. Fedorova, E. S. Chernova, S. Yu. Evgrafova, V. K. Kadutzkii, A. S. Prokushkin, I. E. Sidorina, И. В. Фёдорова, Е. С. Чернова, С. Ю. Евграфова, В. К. Кадуцкий, А. С. Прокушкин, И. Е. Сидорина
• Other Authors: The results of the data analysis were used to the grant report of the Russian Scientific Foundation (RSF No. 23-27-00201 “Creation of an electronic atlas of Antarctic oases lakes”). Methane flux was analyzed within grant RSF No. 21-17-00163., Результаты анализа данных использованы для выполнения гранта Российского научного фонда (РНФ № 23-27-00201 «Создание электронного атласа озер антарктических оазисов»). Анализ потоков метана проведен при поддержке гранта РНФ № 21-17-00163.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Russian
• Published: Государственный научный центр Российской Федерации Арктический и антарктический научно-исследовательский институт 2024
• Subjects: полуостров Файлдс; Fildes peninsula; greenhouse gases; hydrochemistry; hydrology; King George Island; lakes; гидрология; гидрохимия; озера; о. Кинг Джордж; парниковые газы; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctic Science; Antarctica; Arctic; East Antarctica; Антарктида
• Online Access: https://www.aaresearch.science/jour/article/view/592; https://doi.org/10.30758/0555-2648-2024-70-1-46-70

The load on the Antarctic oases has been recently increasing, with intensive research carried out by various countries and ecological tourism developing. This leads to an increase in the impact on the aquatic ecosystems of the lakes and streams in addition to the warming climate and glacier melting. This paper presents findings from a study of the Fildes Peninsula (King George Island) lakes’ aquatic ecosystems in the summer period of January–February 2020. In addition to results of hydrological and hydrochemical studies, the paper provides data from measurements of the self-cleaning ability of representative oasis lakes, as well as greenhouse gas fluxes from the lakes surface. The water level of the streams decreased 5 times over the summer season, and the water discharge — 10 times. The streams flowing from the glacier have the fullest water. The lakes have a neutral reaction, sometimes weakly alkaline; they are well aerated: the average value of dissolved oxygen in water is 85 %, occasionally supersaturation of up to 137% was observed. The concentration of nutrients in the water has amplitudes that are considerable for Antarctic oases lakes. A significant correlation can only be observed between nitrates and phosphates, and also between the water turbidity and the nutrients’ concentration. Maximum turbidity is observed in lakes with abundant content of bacterial mats. Most of the lakes have hydrochemical type II sodium chloride waters. The assessment of the lake self-cleaning ability using the ratio of destruction and organic matter production showed the general ability of ecosystems to cope with external (natural) pressures on ecosystems, but not in all cases. Eutrophication of the lakes and stream valleys is also noted. Carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption was observed in most of the streams and lakes, in some of them — methane (CH4) absorption as well. However, CH4 is generally emitted from the surface of the lakes. The largest values are recorded for small lakes located on glacial moraines and in places where ...