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Lake Ice Phenology

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Book cover The Impact of Climate Change on European Lakes

Part of the book series: Aquatic Ecology Series ((AQEC,volume 4))

Abstract

In Chapter 5 of this book, it is shown that the formation of ice on the surface of a lake (‘ice-on’) and its thawing and ultimate disappearance (‘ice-off’) are complex phenomena governed by mechanisms that involve many interacting meteorological (and some non-meteorological) forcing factors. Linking ice phenology – the timing of ice-on and ice-off – to climatic forcing might therefore be expected to be a difficult task. This task, however, is simplified considerably by the fact that air temperature is the dominant variable driving ice phenology (Williams, 1971; Ruosteenoja, 1986; Vavrus et al., 1996; Williams and Stefan, 2006), and is also correlated to some extent with other relevant meteorological driving variables such as solar radiation, relative humidity and snowfall.

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Acknowledgements

The CLIME project was supported under contract EVK1-CT-2002-00121 by the 5th EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The participation of DML was made possible by funding from the Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science. The authors gratefully acknowledge all individuals and institutes involved in collecting the data on which this chapter is based.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Ueberlandstrasse 133, CH-8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland

    David M. Livingstone

  2. Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Müggelseedamm 301, D-12587, Berlin, Germany

    Rita Adrian

  3. Erken Laboratory, Department of Ecology and Evolution, EBC, Uppsala University, Norr Malma 4200, SE-761 73, Norrtälje, Sweden

    Thorsten Blenckner

  4. Knott End, Windy Hall Road, Windermere, LA23 3HX, UK

    Glen George

  5. Department of Ecology and Evolution/Limnology, Uppsala University, Norbygvagen 18D, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer

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  1. David M. Livingstone
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  2. Rita Adrian
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  3. Thorsten Blenckner
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  4. Glen George
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  5. Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer
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Correspondence to David M. Livingstone .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Windy Hall Road, Bowness-on-Windermere, LA23 3HX, United Kingdom

    Glen George

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Livingstone, D.M., Adrian, R., Blenckner, T., George, G., Weyhenmeyer, G.A. (2010). Lake Ice Phenology. In: George, G. (eds) The Impact of Climate Change on European Lakes. Aquatic Ecology Series, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2945-4_4

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