Decreasing ice cover and higher winds are likely contributing to Lake Superior's rapid warming. Photo: NOAA
Lake Superior has a fever, and the only prescription is a pile of media coverage.
The coldest Great Lake is around 15 degrees warmer than usual for this time of year and on track to beat its record high temperature of 68 degrees, reports ClimateWire’s Dina Fine Maron in the New York Times.
Over at the Great Lakes Town Hall, blogger Dave Dempsey recently pointed to a report on climate change in Lake Superior from the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Large Lakes Observatory.
The report (PDF) cites research findings that Lake Superior’s surface is warming twice as fast as the region’s air temperatures.
“We knew that the upper Great Lakes region was warming more rapidly than the global average, but not this rapidly,” Jay Austin says in the report. Austin is an assistant professor of physics with the Large Lake Observatory at UMD.
Scientists linked the lake’s warming surface water to dropping ice cover and higher winds, but are hedging on whether to blame those solely on good old fashioned, glacier meltin’ global climate change.
Check out past Echo coverage of climate change and Lake Superior:
- Canadian scientists predict Lake Superior could warm 8 to 12 degrees by 2070 to 2100;
- Three Lake Superior National Parks among those threatened by climate change; and
- Global warming could spur algae growth and oxygen loss in Lake Superior.