The Color of Earth’s Lakes

Abstract

Although water color is a fundamental property of freshwater ecosystems, the global distribution of lake color remains unknown. Here, we used 5.14 million color records derived from satellite images during 2013–2020 to determine the modal water color of 85,360 representative lakes worldwide. We find that globally, lake modal colors span the visible spectrum with a bimodal distribution of blue versus non-blue (green-brown), with 31% of lakes being blue and 69% being non-blue. Both climate and lake morphology influence lake modal color. Blue lakes are associated with cooler summer air temperature, winter ice cover, and higher precipitation. Under a 3°C increase in summer air temperature, 14% of blue lakes could shift to a non-blue regime, representing a substantial change to their underlying ecology. As lake ecosystems continue to face a range of stressors, this study provides a critical baseline for understanding lake responses to global environmental change.