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Editor's Highlight
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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 34,
L06604,
doi:10.1029/2006GL029021,
2007
Lake Superior summer water temperatures are increasing more rapidly than regional air temperatures: A positive ice-albedo
feedback
Jay A. Austin
Large Lakes Observatory and Department of Physics, University of Minnesota, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
Steven M. Colman
Large Lakes Observatory and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Minnesota, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
Abstract
Lake Superior summer (July–September) surface water temperatures have increased approximately 2.5°C over the interval 1979–2006,
equivalent to a rate of (11 ± 6) × 10−2°C yr−1, significantly in excess of regional atmospheric warming. This discrepancy is caused by declining winter ice cover, which
is causing the onset of the positively stratified season to occur earlier at a rate of roughly a half day per year. An earlier
start of the stratified season significantly increases the period over which the lake warms during the summer months, leading
to a stronger trend in mean summer temperatures than would be expected from changes in summer air temperature alone.
Received 7
December
2006;
accepted 7
February
2007;
published 23
March
2007.
Keywords: Lake Superior;
climate change;
ice.
Index Terms: 0746 Cryosphere: Lakes (9345); 1630 Global Change: Impacts of global change (1225); 1637 Global Change: Regional climate change; 1845 Hydrology: Limnology (0458, 4239, 4942); 4239 Oceanography: General: Limnology (0458, 1845, 4942).
Read Full Article (file size: 172225 bytes) Cited by
Citation: Austin, J. A., and S. M. Colman
(2007),
Lake Superior summer water temperatures are increasing more rapidly than regional air temperatures: A positive ice-albedo
feedback,
Geophys. Res. Lett.,
34,
L06604,
doi:10.1029/2006GL029021.
Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.
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