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Lake Superior summer water temperatures are increasing more rapidly than regional air temperatures: A positive ice‐albedo feedback
Author(s) -
Austin Jay A.,
Colman Steven M.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2006gl029021
Subject(s) - environmental science , climatology , albedo (alchemy) , atmospheric sciences , surface air temperature , air temperature , climate change , oceanography , geology , art , performance art , art history
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.