Global lakes are warming slower than surface air temperature due to accelerated evaporation

• Published in: Nature Water
• Main Authors: Tong, Yan, Feng, Lian, Wang, Xinchi, Pi, Xuehui, Xu, Wang, Woolway, R. Iestyn
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutputs/global-lakes-are-warming-slower-than-surface-air-temperature-due-to-accelerated-evaporation(cbcc700b-01b5-4552-95e2-71926e5c4e07).html; https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00148-8; https://research.bangor.ac.uk/ws/files/70772992/Tong_et_al_2023.pdf

Widespread increases in lake surface water temperature have been documented in recent decades. Yet our understanding of global lake warming is mainly based on summertime measurements and includes relatively few observations from high latitudes (>60° N) where half of the world’s lakes are located. Here we provide temporally and spatially detailed high-resolution lake surface water temperatures for 92,245 lakes (36% are located within the Arctic) based on satellite remote sensing and numerical modelling. The global lake surface water temperature data suggested a mean increase of +0.24 °C decade−1 (uncertainty 0.02 °C decade−1) from 1981 to 2020, which is significantly (P