In AWRA's March-April 2022 issue of Water Resources IMPACT The Lakes Sampler is a great little piece by Steven Sadro and Adrianne P. Smits:
Download Snowpack Up Sinwpack Down Water Resources IMPACT Mar-Apr2022
Their first secction:
We often think of mountain lakes as being protected by their remoteness, isolated in the steep and rugged confines of their elevated terrain. It would be easy to imagine that these are sheltered from environmental change. But mountain regions are among the most sensitive and rapidly changing places on the planet. In fact, climate change is causing air temperatures in many mountain ranges to rise at rates that are among the highest on Earth. The elevation at which snow accumulates is shifting upward, and the proportion of precipitation falling as rain rather than snow is increasing. In many regions, such as the Sierra Nevada of California, the frequency and severity of drought are increasing.
Warmer air means much more than changes in precipitation, however. The temperatures of bodies of water are impacted as well. And water temperature plays a fundamental role in regulating biogeochemical that affect water quality and ecosystem function. Warmer waters hold less dissolved oxygen, speed up metabolic processes associated with the production and decomposition of organic matter, and alter nutrient cycling rates in lakes. When these lakes become warm enough, higher temperatures can even stress or kill organisms living in them, throwing their fragile ecosystems completely out of balance.
Looking at the example of lakes in the Sierra Nevada, we find that story is much more complicated than steadily rising water temperatures. When it comes to the health of mountain lakes, the webs of cause and effect are twisted by a host of variables - elevation, to topography, to precipitation, and beyond. Disentangling how these changes affect water temperature in the lakes is thus the first step in understanding the implications of climate change for lake health.
Enjoy!
"There seems to be enough room in the world for mediocre men but not for mediocre women." - Madeleine Albright
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