Climate change affecting hypolimnetic water temperatures in deep alpine lakes

Abstract

The possibility of climate change has attracted considerable attention over the past decade (BURROUGHS 2001). As the evidence for changes in weather conditions have been substantiated, environmental impacts on aquatic systems have frequently been associated with climatic indices such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (HURRELL et al. 2003). This index is strongly related to the air and surface water temperatures of lakes in Central Europe (LIVINGSTONE & DOKULIL 2002). Variables are highly synchronised between lakes within the same lake district (DOKULIL & TEUBNER 2002). Oligotrophic deep alpine lakes are excellent ecosystems to amplify climatic signals. In the past, trends in lake surface temperatures and ice cover have mainly been used as indicators for climatic change. Here we analyse the long-term development and trend of hypolimnetic water temperatures (HWT) of deep alpine lakes in Austria.