A new international study comprising of analyzed data from hundreds of lakes around the world has found that lakes are warming at more than twice the rate of the ocean.
According to the Toronto Star, research for the study was carried out between the years of 1985 and 2009, during which time scientists around the globe gathered temperature readings from a multitude of lakes. During this time, it was found that summer surface temperatures rose by about 0.34 degreed C per decade on average.
The study points out that average air temperatures over the same 24-year period warmed around 0.24 degrees C per decade, while oceans warmed about 0.11 degrees C per decade. This means that the lakes of the world are warming over three times as fast as the oceans.
The research indicates that, among the lakes study, Lake Superior is the second-fastest warming lake, behind Sweden’s Lake Fracksjon. The remaining Great Lakes fared no better in the study, most likely due to an increase in solar radiation noted by the study.
Increasing lake temperatures threaten native fish and make it easier for invasive species to intrude. According to Sapna Sharma, the lead author of the study and assistant professor in the faculty of science at York University, this leads to the eventual destruction of the lake’s ecology.
Specifically, the study warns of toxic-blue green algae, which thrive in warmer water. The increasing temperatures also allow the algae to grow thicker and faster.
Another potential consequence of warming: threats to our water supply. Jordan Read of the U.S. Geological Survey, one of the authors of the study, presented a possible correlation between surface warming rate and lake evaporation rates — though the study itself emphasized surface warming rates exclusively.