Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2021
A first continuous three-year temperature record from the dimictic arctic-alpine Lake Tarfala, northern Sweden
Kirchner, Nina; Kuttenkeuler, Jakob; Rosqvist, Gunhild; Hancke, Marnie; Granebeck, Annika; Weckstrom, Jan; Weckstrom, Kaarina; Schenk, Frederik; Korhola, Atte; Eriksson, PiaAbstract
Arctic lakes are exposed to warming during increasingly longer ice-free periods and, if located in glaciated areas, to increased inflow of meltwater and sediments. However, direct monitoring of how such lakes respond to changing environmental conditions is challenging not only because of their remoteness but also because of the scarcity of present and previously observed lake states. At the glacier-proximal Lake Tarfala in the Kebnekaise Mountains, northern Sweden, temperatures throughout the water column at its deepest part (50 m) were acquired between 2016 and 2019. This three-year record shows that Lake Tarfala is dimictic and is overturning during spring and fall, respectively. Timing, duration, and intensity of mixing processes, as well as of summer and winter stratification, vary between years. Glacial meltwater may play an important role regarding not only mixing processes but also cooling of the lake. Attribution of external environmental factors to (changes in) lake mixing processes and thermal states remains challenging owing to for example, timing of ice-on and ice-off but also reflection and absorption of light, both known to play a decisive role for lake mixing processes, are not (yet) monitored in situ at Lake Tarfala.Keywords
Lake; vertical mixing; Arctic; Tarfala; water temperaturePublished in
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research2021, volume: 53, number: 1, pages: 69-79
Publisher: TAYLOR AND FRANCIS LTD
Authors' information
Kirchner, Nina
Stockholm University
Kirchner, Nina
Royal Institute of Technology
Kuttenkeuler, Jakob
Royal Institute of Technology
Rosqvist, Gunhild
University of Bergen
Rosqvist, Gunhild
Stockholm University
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, faculty office
Granebeck, Annika
Stockholm University
Weckstrom, Jan
University of Helsinki
Weckstrom, Kaarina
University of Helsinki
Weckstrom, Kaarina
Geological Survey Of Denmark and Greenland
Schenk, Frederik
Stockholm University
Schenk, Frederik
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute
Korhola, Atte
University of Helsinki
Eriksson, Pia
Stockholm University
UKÄ Subject classification
Physical Geography
Climate Research
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2021.1886577
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/111589