Open Access Published: 17 December 2016 Effect of the North Atlantic Oscillation on the Pattern of Lake Ice Phenology in Poland Dariusz Wrzesiński¹, Adam Choiński¹, Mariusz Ptak¹ & Rajmund Skowron² Acta Geophysica volume 63, pages 1664–1684 (2015)Cite this article 302 Accesses 24 Citations 1 Altmetric Metrics details ab]Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation on the pattern of lake ice phenology in Poland. The research embraced 22 lakes in Poland over the period 1961–2010. Strong relations were found to hold between NAO and individual characteristics of ice phenology. In a negative NAO phase, one can observe a later appearance of ice phenomena and ice cover compared with the average values, ice cover persisting even 30 days longer and being thicker even by more than 10 cm. In turn, in a positive NAO phase the duration of ice phenomena and ice cover is shorter, the cover being less thick and solid. The observed spatial differences in the effect of NAO on the pattern of ice phenomena in Poland show this matter to be fairly complex. The most significant factor changes in climatic conditions, which manifest themselves in the continentality of the climate growing eastwards. Download to read the full article text References Bai, X., J. Wang, C. Sellinger, A. Clites, and R. Assel (2012), Interannual variability of Great Lakes ice cover and its relationship to NAO and ENSO, J. Geophys. Res. 117, C3, C03002, DOI: 10.1029/2010JC006932. Article Google Scholar Bednorz, E. (2011), Synoptic conditions of the occurrence of snow cover in central European lowlands, Int. J. Climatol. 31, 8, 1108–1118, DOI: 10.1002/joc.2130. Article Google Scholar Benson, B.J., J.J. Magnuson, O.P. Jensen, V.M. Card, G. Hodgkins, J. Korhonen, D.M. Livingstone, K.M. Stewart, G.A. Weyhenmeyer, and N.G. 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Google Scholar Download references Author information Affiliations Institute of Physical Geography and Environmental Planning, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland Dariusz Wrzesiński, Adam Choiński & Mariusz Ptak Department of Hydrology and Water Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland Rajmund Skowron Authors Dariusz Wrzesiński View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Adam Choiński View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Mariusz Ptak View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Rajmund Skowron View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Corresponding author Correspondence to Dariusz Wrzesiński. 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Acta Geophys. 63, 1664–1684 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1515/acgeo-2015-0055 Download citation Received: 21 January 2015 Revised: 11 May 2015 Accepted: 22 May 2015 Published: 17 December 2016 Issue Date: December 2015 DOI : https://doi.org/10.1515/acgeo-2015-0055 Share this article Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative Key words climate change ice cover teleconnections

The study is based upon instrumental observations of ice covers which formed on the lakes in northern Poland in the period 1956-2005 and records of air temperature measured at 9 meteorological stations in the period 1960-2005. Relations between mean dates of ice cover freeze-up, ice cover duration, maximum ice thickness, and also other properties of ice regime indicate obvious dependency upon air temperatures in winter months (December-February). Both air temperatures and main properties of ice covers revealed definite trends, showing the increase in air temperature in winter (0.04-0.06°C year^-1), earlier disappearance of ice cover (0.5-0.6 day year^-1), its shorter duration (0.6-0.7 day year^-1), and decreases in maximum thickness of the ice cover (0.2-0.25 cm year^-1). The author shows considerable statistical relations between main properties of the course of the ice cover, air temperatures in winter and the NAO winter indexes. Therefore, changeability of the ice covers on the lakes in northern Poland in the latter half of the twentieth century may be treated as another proof and an indirect indicator of climatic changes undergoing in this part of Europe.

Since the early twentieth century limnological literature has presented numerous classifications of lakes. Most frequently these classifications refer to genetic systematization. In the latter half of the twentieth century new divisions of inland water bodies were introduced with respect to mictic, trophic and thermal properties. These proposals, however, make up a very diverse and scattered material, particularly due to the considered criteria. The author of this article decided to verify opinions and criteria of these systematisations to provide a better understanding of the problem.

Morphometry changes of Lake Ostrowskie (the Gniezno Lakeland) on the basis of cartographic, remote sensing and geodetic surveying: The authors studied changes in the morphometry of Lake Ostrowskie over the period of 123 years on the grounds of cartographic materials, remote sensing data, land surveying, and data referring to the water stages. The changes that occurred in the lake up to the 1960s were related to the regulation and melioration works conducted in the entire area of the Gniezno Lakeland. On the other hand, drainage of the open pits of brown coal resulted in the considerable decline of the water table by another 2.5 m in the years 2002-2009. As a result of the decline of water down to 96.4 m a.s.l. the present lake was divided into two water bodies (the eastern one and the western one) joint with a channel. This led to the decline in the lake area from 346.7 ha in 1887 to 242.0 ha, and its volume by 28.9%, out of which by 18.3% only in recent twenty-eight years.

The paper presented the results of surface water temperature measurements from 17 lakes located in northern Poland and Belarus over the period of 50 years (1971–2020). Using the Excel computer program, Corel Quattro Pro 8, and graphic Draw 9, annual and monthly averages, extreme values, and annual and monthly trends were calculated and presented. These were supplemented by the monthly average air temperatures for 13 weather stations. The research showed that the temperature in all lakes was characterized by a positive trend at the level of 0.044 °C year⁻¹. The largest lake was characteristic for the Chervonoe Lake—0.066 °C year⁻¹—and the smallest 0.029 °C year⁻¹ for the deep Lake Hańcza. In the course of the average monthly surface water temperatures, a positive trend was also observed, ranging from 0.015 °C year⁻¹ in January to 0.069 °C year⁻¹ in May. These values correlated with the average air temperatures in the winter months (December–March) and with the winter NAO index (DJFM).

The paper presents changes in the surface area and overgrowing of the largest Polish lakes (> 500 ha). It has been established (on the basis of 4 analyzed time sequences) that over the last 80 years there has been a gradual reduction of the lake area. At the same time, the area occupied by emerged vegetation has increased. This is confirmed by the lake overgrowth rate and the shoreline overgrowth rate.