Decadal Heat Accumulation in Ice-Covered Lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Lakes integrate landscape processes and climate conditions.  Most of the permanently ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica are closed basin, receiving glacial melt water from streams for 10-12 weeks per year and lacking advective outflow.  We measured vertical profiles of water temperature three lakes in Taylor Valley since 1988.  From these measurements, calculated heat contents indicate that these three lakes have been gaining heat since 2002.  Analyses of lake ice thickness, meteorological conditions, and stream water heat loads indicate that the main source of heat to these lakes is from the glacially fed streams.  These results indicate that McMurdo Dry Valley lakes are sensitive indicators of climate processes in this polar desert landscape and demonstrate the importance of long-term data sets when addressing the effects of climate on ecosystem processes.