2 research outputs found
The effects of the NAO on the ice phenology of Spanish alpine lakes
13 páginas, 3 figuras, 1 tabla.Three Spanish alpine lakes located in the Central Range (Peñalara Lake and Cimera
Lake) and the Pyrenees (Redon Lake) are selected to understand the effects of the North
Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on ice phenology. A conceptual lake model is formulated based on
Pearson’s correlation coefficients obtained between season-scale time series of the NAO
index, climatic data (i.e., precipitation, air temperature and snow data) and limnological
variables (ice phenology records). The results suggest that the effects of the NAO are only reflected in the thawing process via the air temperature and the insulating effect of snow
accumulation on the ice cover. An altitude component is evident in our survey because the
effects of the NAO on Peñalara Lake (the lowest altitude studied lake) are restricted to winter,
whereas for Redon Lake (the highest altitude studied lake), the effects extend into spring. A
latitudinal component is also clear when comparing our data with northern European lakes.
Snow accumulation primarily depends on the air temperature at high latitudes, and both
precipitation and the air temperature control snow accumulation at lower latitudes. Consequently,
in northern Europe, the NAO signal is primarily reflected in lake ice phenology via the
air temperature, whereas our results confirm that in southern Europe, the strong dependence of
precipitation on the NAO determines the importance of the NAO for lake ice cover.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness
through the PALEONAO project (CGL2010-15767/BTE), RapidNAO project (CGL2013-40608-R) and an
undergraduate JAE grant (BOE 03/02/2011) for Guiomar Sánchez from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC).Peer reviewe