Posted on 05/01/2008 11:00:38 AM PDT by blam
Global Warming Affects World's Largest Freshwater Lake
This well-known landmark, Shaman Rock on Lake Baikal in Russia, stands guard over an ancient lake whose pristine condition is changing quickly. (Credit: Nicholas Rodenhouse)
ScienceDaily (May 1, 2008) — Russian and American scientists have discovered that the rising temperature of the world's largest lake, located in frigid Siberia, shows that this region is responding strongly to global warming.
Consensus of scientists regarding global warming Drawing on 60 years of long-term studies of Russia's Lake Baikal, Stephanie Hampton, an ecologist and deputy director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Marianne Moore, a biologist at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., along with four other scientists, report their results on-line today in the journal Global Change Biology.
"Warming of this isolated but enormous lake is a clear signal that climate change has affected even the most remote corners of our planet," Hampton said.
In their paper, the scientists detail the effects of climate change on Lake Baikal--from warming of its vast waters to reorganization of its microscopic food web.
"The conclusions shown here for this enormous body of freshwater result from careful and repeated sampling over six decades," said Henry Gholz, program director for NCEAS at the National Science Foundation (NSF), which funded the research. "Thanks to the dedication of local scientists, who were also keen observers, coupled with modern synthetic approaches, we can now visualize and appreciate the far-reaching changes occurring in this lake."
Lake Baikal is the grand dame of lakes. In 1996, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared it a World Heritage site because of its biological diversity. It boasts 2500 plant and animal species, with most, including the freshwater seal, found nowhere else in the world.
The lake contains 20 percent of the world's freshwater, and it is large enough to hold all the water in the United States' Great Lakes. It is the world's deepest lake as well as its oldest; at 25 million years old, it predates the emergence of humans.
In more recent times, it was a dedicated group of humans who made this study possible. "Our research relies on a 60-year data set, collected in Lake Baikal by three generations of a single family of Siberian scientists," Moore said. "In the 1940s, Mikhail Kozhov began collecting and analyzing water samples in anticipation that this lake could reveal much about how lakes in general function.
"Ultimately, his daughter Olga Kozhova continued the program, followed by her daughter, who is also a co-author of today's paper: Lyubov Izmest'eva."
The decades-long research effort survived the reign of Stalin, the fall of the Soviet Union, and other social and financial upheavals in the region.
Data collection continued through every season, in an environment where winter temperatures drop to -50 degrees F.
The data on Lake Baikal reveal "significant warming of surface waters and long-term changes in the food web of the world's largest, most ancient lake," write the researchers in their paper. "Increases in water temperature (1.21°C since 1946), chlorophyll a (300 percent since 1979), and an influential group of zooplankton grazers (335 percent since 1946) have important implications for nutrient cycling and food web dynamics."
The scientists conclude that the lake now joins other large lakes, including Superior, Tanganyika and Tahoe, in showing warming trends.
"But," they note, "temperature changes in Lake Baikal are particularly significant as a signal of long-term regional warming.
"This lake was expected to be among those most resistant to climate change, due to its tremendous volume and unique water circulation."
The research paper is the result of a collaboration involving six Siberian and American scientists, who were assisted by student translators from Wellesley College.
In addition to Hampton and Moore, the paper's contributors are Izmest'eva, director of the Scientific Research Institute of Biology, Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russia; Stephen L. Katz, recently of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries, Seattle, Wash.; Brian Dennis of the departments of statistics and fish and wildlife resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho; and Eugene A. Silow of the Scientific Research Institute of Biology, Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russia.
Adapted from materials provided by National Science Foundation.
Largest by volume. Superior is largest by surface area.
“This lake was expected to be among those most resistant to climate change, due to its tremendous volume and unique water circulation.”
LOL! That was good. New and improved! Climate Change resistant!
The Russians have a history of making large lakes dissappear. Disliquidated,I would say.
Of course it does. So does global cooling. So do local climate changes. None of which can scientifically or signficantly be pinned on humans.
LOL Scientists who claim to have a consensus about global warming don’t seem to be able to come to a consensus about what is occuring right now. I read an article yesterday that said scientists (apparently just some scientists) think that global warming is going to ‘stall’ until 2015.
Oops, guess I shouldn’t have poured that cup of hot Starbucks in the lake last week.
This only proves that global warming started well before man started emitting C02 in large quantities.
I wonder if these are “end point” measures. That is, compare 1946 to 2006 and measure the difference. If so, single-point statistics are notoriously weak in trend analysis yet people “on a mission” do it all the time.
Total BS. There was no serious consistent scientific study of the lake over that period. 60 years covers the aftermath of WW2 and the Cold War. That claim is pure BS. If they are willing to simply lie about this fact, what else are they lying about in their "Study"
Bureaucratic Institutions, like people and objects, develop inertia. This is an example of a bureaucracy being captured by their dogma and simply refusing to see anything that does not validate the preconceived template.
Sorry! My fault! But I really really had to go!
Science Daily ought to change it’s name to Climate Change Crisis Daily. It’s turned into a real rag.
"Warming of this isolated but enormous lake is a clear signal that climate change has affected even the most remote corners of our planet," Hampton said.
Another Gore Kool-aid drinker. It's due to worldwide global warming? What about any industrial discharges into the lake during Communist rule?? And the rest of the world has warmed in the past 40-60 years so this would be expected. Now as global cooling occurs (as per the scientists who recognize this is a cyclic event) can we expect the Gore addicts to recognize this as a natural event?? Not on your life!!
I remember studying about Lake Baikal in high school and everyone was wringing their hands about how the Soviets were killing the lake with all kinds of toxins. So, I guess that problem has run its course and now it’s global warming.
Scientists today announced that there will be no more nighttime on earth. They based it on methodical and unquestionable observations from 8:01:00 until 8:01:01.
Dr Head Upmybutt sadly proclaimed that since man was on earth, had been on earth and will be on earth that only mankind could be responsible for this permamnent daylight tragedy.
"Thanks to the dedication of local scientists, who were also keen observers, coupled with modern synthetic approaches, we can now visualize and appreciate the far-reaching changes occurring in this lake."
As the earth warms, “modern synthetic approaches” melts into enviroscript for “invented facts.”
Interestingly, this linguistic visualization also happens as the earth cools, which further validates global warming.
Stop being so outdated in your thinking! Don't you kow it's passe to let mere ESTABLISHED FACT get in the way of the latest fad theory of the climate change cultists??
THAT sounds like bum coverage to me. If we have another colder than average year this year, just wait and see how fast that butt cover idea will become the latest 'consensus'.
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