Tau et al. (2025) Thermal Response of Lakes to Cyclic Environmental Forcing

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Geophysical Research Letters
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-10-14
• Authors: Guy Tau, Yehouda Enzel, Hamish A. McGowan, Vladimir Lyakhovsky, Nadav G. Lensky‬‏
• DOI: 10.1029/2025gl117731

Research Groups

Not specified in abstract.

Short Summary

This study develops and tests precise mathematical expressions to predict the thermal response of lakes to cyclic environmental forcing and global changes, demonstrating that lake surface temperature departure from equilibrium depends on the forcing period, thermal response time, lake/thermocline depth, and wind speed.

Objective

• To develop precise mathematical expressions and tools for predicting the thermal response of lakes to cyclic environmental forcing and expected global changes, including estimations of surface temperature and evaporation rates across various timescales and stratification patterns.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Two neighboring Mediterranean lakes (one deep, one shallow).
• Temporal Scale: 2 years.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Equilibrium solution of the energy balance equation, theoretical analysis.
• Data sources: Direct measurements, 2 years of eddy covariance data from two Mediterranean lakes.

Main Results

• Formulations were developed to describe the equilibrium solution of the energy balance equation for lake surface temperature.
• Lake surface temperature departs from equilibrium with a time delay and reduced amplitude when environmental forcing varies.
• This departure is dependent on the ratio between the forcing period and the lake's thermal response time.
• The thermal response is also dependent on lake/thermocline depth and wind speed.
• These formulations were tested and validated using 2 years of eddy covariance data from a deep and a shallow Mediterranean lake.

Contributions

• Provides precise mathematical expressions for predicting lake thermal response to cyclic environmental forcing and global changes.
• Offers tools for estimating lake surface temperature and evaporation rates across various timescales and stratification patterns.
• Introduces a hybrid approach combining theoretical analysis with direct measurements, explicitly incorporating the role of thermal stratification.

Funding

Not specified in abstract.

Citation

@article{Tau2025Thermal,
  author = {Tau, Guy and Enzel, Yehouda and McGowan, Hamish A. and Lyakhovsky, Vladimir and Lensky‬‏, Nadav G.},
  title = {Thermal Response of Lakes to Cyclic Environmental Forcing},
  journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1029/2025gl117731},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl117731}
}