Arctic and Antarctic lakes as optical indicators of global change

Abstract

Lakes are a major feature of Arctic and Antarctic landscapes and are likely to be sensitive indicators of climate change. New bio-optical technologies for in situ measurements (e.g. UV-profiling) and remote sensing (e.g. light detection and ranging) now offer a suite of options for long-term monitoring at these sites. Certain properties of high-latitude lakes are highly responsive to changes in climate forcing and could be targeted within a monitoring strategy based on optical properties; these include lake levels, lake-ice dynamics, phytoplankton biomass and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM). High-latitude lakes are optically sensitive to changes in CDOM export from their surrounding catchments that could result from climate effects on hydrology and vegetation. Using a new model based on biologically weighted transparency, we show that a 20% change in CDOM concentration (as measured by dissolved organic carbon) can have a much greater effect on UV inhibition of phytoplankton than a similar percentage change in stratospheric ozone. Much of this effect is due to UV-A, because the reduced photodamaging effect per unit energy (i.e. low biological weighting) in this waveband is offset by its higher incident flux at the lake surface relative to UV-B and its deeper penetration into the water column. These transparency calculations also show that small changes in CDOM in polar lakes will have a large effect on underwater light availability for photosynthesis. The spectral absorption and fluorescence properties of CDOM lend themselves to a variety of optical monitoring approaches. Future research on the paleoptics of CDOM will allow the interpretation of current optical trends in high-latitude lakes relative to the scales of natural variability in the past.