Lakes in cold regions are key ecosystems. However, the environmental controls on the biological productivity of these lakes – including surface temperature, ice phenology, nutrient loads, and mixing regime – are increasingly altered by climate warming and land-use changes.
In a new paper published in Earth System Science Data, researchers from ERG and Wilfred Laurier University assembled a dataset on chlorophyll-a concentrations plus associated water quality parameters and surface solar radiation for temperate and cold-temperate lakes experiencing seasonal ice cover. A new method was developed to identify periods of rapid net increase of in situ chlorophyll-a concentrations from time series data. It was then applied to data collected between 1964 and 2019 across 343 lakes located north of 40∘. The paper’s first author is former ERG undergraduate student Hannah Adams, now a graduate student at Memorial University. Co-authors include ERG members Jane Ye, Bhaleka Persaud, Steph Slowinski, and Philippe Van Cappellen, as well as former ERG member Homa Keyhrollah Pour, now an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid laurier University. The paper can be accessed at LINK.