Climate change impact on lakes is studied

HOKKAIDO, Japan, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A study led by Japanese and German researchers suggests climate change will have different effects on lakes in warmer and colder regions of the Earth.

Scientists from Hokkaido University, the Hokkaido Institute of Environmental Sciences, Kagoshima University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research compared current measurements in Japan's very deep caldera lakes with measurements taken 70 years ago.

The findings, said the researchers, confirm a rise in temperatures in the deep water layers of lakes in southern Japan, while the deep water temperatures of lakes in the northern part of the country remained the same.

Although rising temperatures can lead to changes in nutrient exchange and turnover in the water, the researchers said they found nearly all the lakes studied displayed a good distribution of dissolved nutrients, despite their depths which ranged up to nearly 1,400 feet.

The study that included researchers from Australia, Canada and Spain is reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.