Substantial increase in minimum lake surface temperatures under climate change

• Published in: Climatic change 2019-07, Vol.155 (1), p.81-94
• Main Authors: Woolway, R. Iestyn, Weyhenmeyer, Gesa A., Schmid, Martin, Dokulil, Martin T., de Eyto, Elvira, Maberly, Stephen C., May, Linda, Merchant, Christopher J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air temperature; Annual variations; Aquatic ecosystems; Atmospheric Sciences; Biogeochemistry; Climate change; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecological effects; Ecosystem services; Extremes; Global warming; Lakes; Surface temperature; Surface water; Temperature changes; Temperature effects; Temperature variations; trends; Warming; Water; Water temperature; Winter; Winter limnology
• ISSN: 0165-0009; 1573-1480; 1573-1480
• DOI: 10.1007/s10584-019-02465-y

The annual minimum of lake surface water temperature influences ecological and biogeochemical processes, but variability and change in this extreme have not been investigated. Here, we analysed observational data from eight European lakes and investigated the changes in annual minimum surface water temperature. We found that between 1973 and 2014, the annual minimum lake surface temperature has increased at an average rate of + 0.35 °C decade −1 , comparable to the rate of summer average lake surface temperature change during the same period (+ 0.32 °C decade −1 ). Coherent responses to climatic warming are observed between the increase in annual minimum lake surface temperature and the increase in winter air temperature variations. As a result of the rapid warming of annual minimum lake surface temperatures, some of the studied lakes no longer reach important minimum surface temperature thresholds that occur in winter, with complex and significant potential implications for lakes and the ecosystem services that they provide.