Extreme water level rise across the upper Laurentian Great Lakes region: Citizen science documentation 2010–2020
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of Great Lakes Research
Abstract
As the global water balance accelerates in a warming climate, extreme fluctuations in the water levels of lakes and aquifers are anticipated, with biogeochemical, ecological and water supply consequences. However, it is unclear how site-specific factors, such as location, morphometry and hydrology, will modulate these impacts on regional spatial scales. Here, we report water level time series collected by citizen scientists for 15 diverse inland lakes in the upper Laurentian Great Lakes region from 2010 to 2020, and we compare these time series with those for the two largest Great Lakes, Lake Superior and Lake Michigan-Huron. Combined with historical data (1942–2010), the findings indicate that lakes spanning seven orders of magnitude in size (10−2 to 105 km2) all rebounded from record low to record high water levels during the recent decade. They suggest coherent water level oscillations among regional lakes (large and small) implying a common, near-decadal, climatic driver that may be changing.
First Page
1135
Last Page
1139
DOI
10.1016/j.jglr.2022.06.005
Publication Date
10-1-2022
Recommended Citation
Watras, Carl J.; Heald, Emily; Teng, Hao Yang; Rubsam, Jeff; and Asplund, Tim, "Extreme water level rise across the upper Laurentian Great Lakes region: Citizen science documentation 2010–2020" (2022). Faculty Publications. 2.
https://arch.astate.edu/scm-mathfac/2
