Earth's lakes are heating up. Fast. Here's why that matters

[IDemo]

The world’s lakes are warming faster than the atmosphere or the ocean, and this is a problem, say scientists.

In the first study of its kind, funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation and published Wednesday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, dozens of researchers from around the world studied 235 lakes spanning six continents, more than half of the world’s freshwater supply. Using 25 years worth of satellite and ground temperature data, the scientists concluded that the Earth’s lakes are warming an average of 0.61 degrees Fahrenheit each decade.

“These results suggest that large changes in our lakes are not only unavoidable, but are probably already happening,” lead author Catherine O’Reilly, associate professor of geology at Illinois State University, explained in a press release.

And while 0.61 degrees Fahrenheit per decade might not sound like much, it’s a higher rate of warming than either the atmosphere or ocean are experiencing. And its enough to do some serious damage, the researchers say.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2015/1217/Earth-s-lakes-are-heating-up.-Fast.-Here-s-why-that-matters

[daleanime]

1. kick, kick, kick....

[2naSalit]

2. K&R!!

[Politicsandhiphop]

3. And we just finished a COP21 summit with little sense of urgency

[CrispyQ]

4. I think we're totally screwed. -nt

[corkhead]

5. Nah, no worries. Rich people are going to need servants in the domes they'll soon be building

[TIME TO PANIC]

6. K & R !

[jwirr]

7. They are talking about algae - we are already seeing that

in many lakes and ponds. So when they say we may already be experiencing the effect they are right.

[blackspade]

8. Sigh.

Climate science continues to depress and fascinate in equal measure....

[NickB79]

9. Minnesotans are freaking about the warming of Lake Mille Lacs, and the death of it's walleyes

http://www.startribune.com/climate-change-is-a-culprit-in-walleye-s-decline/302314741/

Tullibee, a cold-water loving fish that is a critical prey for walleye, is largely gone from Mille Lacs. In fact, tullibee is in trouble across the state — a clear sign that Minnesota’s lakes are changing as fast as the climate and creating an uncertain future for the state’s prized fishing industry.

By the end of this century, tullibee will be gone or drastically reduced in two-thirds of the lakes where it lives now, according to a sophisticated climate prediction model by state and University of Minnesota scientists. Other coldwater fish like yellow perch, burbot and lake trout are also declining, while warmwater fish like bluegill and crappies are on the rise.

“It’s a pretty striking story,” said Peter Jacobson, a fish biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. He’s been studying tullibee since heat-related fish kills first got his attention in the hot summer of 2006. “The recent declines have been mostly from climate.”

Lake Mille Lacs supports a massive tourism industry centered around year-long walleye fishing (it's kind of a cult up here). The collapse of the walleye population has cost the state many, many millions just this year alone. And it's not predicted to get better.

With the loss of coldwater prey fish, the walleyes have resorted to eating their young. Fish surveys have been unable to find ANY walleyes younger than 4-5 years, even though they spawn hundreds of millions of young each spring. And as the old fish are either caught by fisherman, eagles, or just die of age, the numbers rapidly fall towards zero.

Huh, forced to eat your own young just to survive another day. Somehow, that sounds like the perfect way to describe the situation we humans find ourselves in.

[Flying Squirrel]

10. I don't get the problem

Just set up solar panels next to them all to soak up the sun's rays... Problem solved!