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Lakes are warming up faster than air
Source: Agencies |
November 25, 2010, Thursday
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A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND NASA study is finding nice cool lakes are heating up - even faster than air.
Two NASA scientists used satellite data to look at 104 large inland lakes around the world and found that on average they have warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius since 1985. That's about two-and-a-half times the increase in global temperatures in the same time period.
Russia's Lake Ladoga and America's Lake Tahoe are warming significantly and the most, said study co-author Simon Hook, a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California. Tahoe has heated up by 1.7 degrees Celsius since 1985, while Ladoga went up by 2.2 degrees.
Hook and his colleague used several satellites and looked at thermal infrared images of the lakes in winter and summer. They also confirmed the numbers by comparing them to buoy data.
"It fits with what we see with air temperature measurements," Hook said. "We were surprised that in some places the lakes appear to be warming more than the air?temperature."
The next question to look at is why the lakes seem to be warming faster than the air or land, Hook said. One reason could be the way lakes warm - in a more gradual manner than land, but slower to cool.
NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, who was not part of the study, said the research made sense and adds another independent measuring system to show that the world is warming up. Eleven different indicators show significant man-made global warming, while no environmental measurements show otherwise, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Overall, 41 lakes increased temperatures in a significant way, with another 59 warming but not enough to be considered significant. Only four showed drops, but not significantly, Hook said.
Two NASA scientists used satellite data to look at 104 large inland lakes around the world and found that on average they have warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius since 1985. That's about two-and-a-half times the increase in global temperatures in the same time period.
Russia's Lake Ladoga and America's Lake Tahoe are warming significantly and the most, said study co-author Simon Hook, a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California. Tahoe has heated up by 1.7 degrees Celsius since 1985, while Ladoga went up by 2.2 degrees.
Hook and his colleague used several satellites and looked at thermal infrared images of the lakes in winter and summer. They also confirmed the numbers by comparing them to buoy data.
"It fits with what we see with air temperature measurements," Hook said. "We were surprised that in some places the lakes appear to be warming more than the air?temperature."
The next question to look at is why the lakes seem to be warming faster than the air or land, Hook said. One reason could be the way lakes warm - in a more gradual manner than land, but slower to cool.
NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, who was not part of the study, said the research made sense and adds another independent measuring system to show that the world is warming up. Eleven different indicators show significant man-made global warming, while no environmental measurements show otherwise, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Overall, 41 lakes increased temperatures in a significant way, with another 59 warming but not enough to be considered significant. Only four showed drops, but not significantly, Hook said.
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