Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Ice Cover”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Historical trends in lake and river ice cover in the northern hemisphere

Freeze and breakup dates of ice on lakes and rivers provide consistent evidence of later freezing and earlier breakup around the Northern Hemisphere from 1846 to 1995. Over these 150 years, changes in freeze dates averaged 5.8 days per 100 years later, and changes in breakup dates averaged 6.5 days per 100 years earlier; these translate to increasing air temperatures of about 1.2 degrees C per 100 years. Interannual variability in both freeze and breakup dates has increased since 1950. A few longer time series reveal reduced ice cover (a warming trend) beginning as early as the 16th century, with increasing rates of change after about 1850.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Phytoplankton successions under ice cover in four lakes located in north-eastern Sweden: effects of liming.

Phytoplankton successions under ice cover (January-March) were determined in four oligotrophic lakes (Burtjärn, Aspen, Vialamptjärn and Storkorstjärn) located in North-Eastern Sweden. The total phosphorus concentration in the lakes was less than 10 micrograms/L. Lake Burtjärn (reference lake) had a similar hydrology as Lake Aspen. Storkorstjärn and Vialamptjärn were of similar hydrology and had heavily colored water (> 100 mgpt/L). Aspen as well as vialamptjärn became continuously limed with calcium carbonate annually during the last decades. Biodiversity was considerably higher in the limed lakes (Aspen and Vialamptjärn) than in the untreated lakes (Burtjärn and Storkorstjärn). In Lake Burtjärn the most frequent species were Rhodomonas lacustris, Tabellaria flocculosa and Botryococcus braunii. Cryptophyceae (R. lacustris and Cryptomonas marssonii) and Dinophyceae (especially Gymnodinium lantzschii) were common phytoplankton groups in Lake Aspen. Tabellaria flocculosa was also the most common organism in both humic lakes Storkorstjärn and Vialamptjärn, other phytoplankton groups were in the humic lakes scarce. Liming was found to have profound effects on phytoplankton communities studied.

Acid Rain↗
PubMed2000

Sedimentology and geochemistry of a perennially ice-covered epishelf lake in Bunger Hills Oasis, East Antarctica.

A process-oriented study was carried out in White Smoke lake, Bunger Hills, East Antarctica, a perennially ice-covered (1.8 to 2.8 m thick) epishelf (tidally-forced) lake. The lake water has a low conductivity and is relatively well mixed. Sediments are transferred from the adjacent glacier to the lake when glacier ice surrounding the sediment is sublimated at the surface and replaced by accumulating ice from below. The lake bottom at the west end of the lake is mostly rocky with a scant sediment cover. The east end contains a thick sediment profile. Grain size and delta 13C increase with sediment depth, indicating a more proximal glacier in the past. Sedimentary 210Pb and 137Cs signals are exceptionally strong, probably a result of the focusing effect of the large glacial catchment area. The post-bomb and pre-bomb radiocarbon reservoirs are c. 725 14C yr and c. 1950 14C yr, respectively. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the east end of the lake is >3 ka BP, while photographic evidence and the absence of sediment cover indicate that the west end has formed only over the last century. Our results indicate that the southern ice edge of Bunger Hills has been relatively stable with only minor fluctuations (on the scale of hundreds of metres) over the last 3000 years.

Antarctic Regions↗
PubMed1998

Dissolved gases in perennially ice-covered lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica.

Measurements of dissolved N2, O2, Ar, CO2, and CH4 were made in perennially ice-covered Lake Hoare. Results confirm previous reports that O2 concentrations in the upper water column exceed atmospheric equilibrium and that N2 and Ar are supersaturated throughout the water column. The mean supersaturation of N2 was found to be 2.0 (+/- 0.37) and Ar was 3.8 (+/- 1.1). The ratios of N2/Ar (20.3 +/- 13.8), and O2/Ar (22.5 +/- 4.0) at the ice-water interface are consistent with those previously measured, suggesting that bubble formation is the main process for removing gas from the lake. However, the saturations of N2 and Ar greatly exceed those previously predicted for degassing by bubble formation only at the ice-water interface. The data support the hypothesis that removal of gas by bubbles occurs in the water column to a depth of 11 m in Lake Hoare. CO2 concentration increases from near zero at the ice-water interface to 80-100 times saturation at and below the chemocline at c. 28 m. There is considerable variability in the gas concentrations throughout the water column; samples separated in depth by one metre may vary by more than 50% in gas content. It is likely that this phenomenon results from the lack of turbulent mixing in the water column. Methane (c. 2 micrograms l-1) was detected below the chemocline and immediately above the sediment/water interface at a depth of 30 m. Samples from lakes Vanda, Joyce, and Miers, also show supersaturations of O2, N2, and Ar at levels similar to levels found in Lake Hoare.

Antarctic Regions↗
PubMed1998

N2-Fixing Microbial Consortia Associated with the Ice Cover of Lake Bonney, Antarctica.

Abstract Nitrogen (N) availability is a key nutritional factor controlling microbial production in Antarctic freshwater and soil habitats. Since there are no significant sources of biologically available N entering these ecosystems, nitrogen fixation may be a major source of "new" N supporting primary and secondary production. The role of N2 fixation was examined in cyanobacteria-dominated microbial aggregates embedded in the permanent ice cover of Lake Bonney, McMurdo Dry Valley (Victoria Land) lakes area, and in cyanobacterial mats found in soils adjacent to the ice edge. Nitrogenase activity was extremely low compared to temperate and tropical systems, but N2 fixation was found at all study sites. N2 fixation occurred under both dark and light conditions, indicating the potential involvement of both phototrophic and heterotrophic diazotrophs. Nitrogenase activity measurements (acetylene reduction assay) and molecular characterization (PCR amplification of nifH fragments) demonstrated a diverse and periodically active (when liquid water is present) diazotrophic community in this arid, nutrient-limited environment. As a result of the close proximity to other microorganisms and the nutritional constraints of this environment, these diazotrophs may be involved in mutually beneficial consortial relationships that enhance their growth when water is available.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1983

Stress tolerance and stress-induced injury in crop plants measured by chlorophyll fluorescence in vivo: chilling, freezing, ice cover, heat, and high light.

The proposition is examined that measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence in vivo can be used to monitor cellular injury caused by environmental stresses rapidly and nondestructively and to determine the relative stress tolerances of different species. Stress responses of leaf tissue were measured by F(R), the maximal rate of the induced rise in chlorophyll fluorescence. The time taken for F(R) to decrease by 50% in leaves at 0 degrees C was used as a measure of chilling tolerance. This value was 4.3 hours for chilling-sensitive cucumber. In contrast, F(R) decreased very slowly in cucumber leaves at 10 degrees C or in chilling-tolerant cabbage leaves at 0 degrees C. Long-term changes in F(R) of barley, wheat, and rye leaves kept at 0 degrees C were different in frost-hardened and unhardened material and in the latter appeared to be correlated to plant frost tolerance. To simulate damage caused by a thick ice cover, wheat leaves were placed at 0 degrees C under N(2). Kharkov wheat, a variety tolerant of ice encapsulation, showed a slower decrease in F(R) than Gatcher, a spring wheat. Relative heat tolerance was also indicated by the decrease in F(R) in heated leaves while changes in vivo resulting from photoinhibition, ultraviolet radiation, and photobleaching can also be measured.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Isolation, characterization, and ecology of cold-active, chemolithotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria from perennially ice-covered Lake Fryxell, Antarctica.

Novel strains of obligately chemolithoautotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria have been isolated from various depths of Lake Fryxell, Antarctica. Physiological, morphological, and phylogenetic analyses showed these strains to be related to mesophilic Thiobacillus species, such as T. thioparus. However, the psychrotolerant Antarctic isolates showed an adaptation to cold temperatures and thus should be active in the nearly freezing waters of the lake. Enumeration by most-probable-number analysis in an oxic, thiosulfate-containing medium revealed that the sulfur-oxidizing chemolithotroph population peaks precisely at the oxycline (9.5 m), although viable cells exist well into the anoxic, sulfidic waters of the lake. The sulfur-oxidizing bacteria described here likely play a key role in the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and sulfur in Lake Fryxell.

Antarctic Regions↗
PubMed1986

Oxygen budget of a perennially ice-covered Antarctic lake.

A bulk O2 budget for Lake Hoare, Antarctica, is presented. Five years of seasonal data show the lake to be persistently supersaturated with O2. Oxygen is carried into the lake in glacial meltstreams and is left behind when this water is removed as ice by ablation and sublimation. A diffusive loss of O2 from the lake through the summer moat is suggested. Measured values of the total O2 in the water column indicate that the time scale of O2 turnover is much longer than a year. Based on these results we suggest that the amount of O2 in the water does not change significantly throughout the year and that the lake is also supersaturated with N2.

Antarctic Regions↗
PubMed2004

Drilling and operational sounds from an oil production island in the ice-covered Beaufort sea.

Recordings of sounds underwater and in air, and of iceborne vibrations, were obtained at Northstar Island, an artificial gravel island in the Beaufort Sea near Prudhoe Bay (Alaska). The aim was to document the levels, characteristics, and range dependence of sounds and vibrations produced by drilling and oil production during the winter, when the island was surrounded by shore-fast ice. Drilling produced the highest underwater broadband (10-10,000 Hz) levels (maximum= 124 dB re: 1 microPa at 1 km), and mainly affected 700-1400 Hz frequencies. In contrast, drilling did not increase broadband levels in air or ice relative to levels during other island activities. Production did not increase broadband levels for any of the sensors. In all media, broadband levels decreased by approximately 20 dB/tenfold change in distance. Background levels underwater were reached by 9.4 km during drilling and 3-4 km without. In the air and ice, background levels were reached 5-10 km and 2-10 km from Northstar, respectively, depending on the wind but irrespective of drilling. A comparison of the recorded sounds with harbor and ringed seal audiograms showed that Northstar sounds were probably audible to seals, at least intermittently, out to approximately 1.5 km in water and approximately 5 km in air.

Acoustics↗
PubMed1998

Climate and groundwater recharge during the last glaciation in an ice-covered region

A multitracer study of a small aquifer in northern Switzerland indicates that the atmosphere in central Europe cooled by at least 5 degreesC during the last glacial period. The relation between oxygen isotope ratios (delta18O) and recharge temperatures reconstructed for this period is similar to the present-day one if a shift in the delta18O value of the oceans during the ice age is taken into account. This similarity suggests that the present-day delta18O-temperature relation can be used to reconstruct paleoclimate conditions in northern Switzerland. A gap in calculated groundwater age between about 17,000 and 25,000 years before the present indicates that during the last glacial maximum, local groundwater recharge was prevented by overlying glaciers.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1999

The outflow of radionuclides from Novaya Zemlya bays--modeling and monitoring strategies.

Hydrodynamic model results are used to evaluate possible monitoring strategies for a continuous survey of underwater dump sites. The Hamburg Shelf Ocean Model (HAMSOM) is applied to Abrosimov Bay and forced with realistic, transient wind fields and air temperatures. The three-dimensional circulation model is coupled to a dynamic-thermodynamic ice model that accounts for surface heat fluxes, fractional ice cover and ice thickness. Model results show significant variations in the bay circulation due to a pronounced seasonality in the wind forcing and the ice cover. The circulation is weakest in early summer when wind speeds are low and the ice still covers most parts of the bay. In autumn, circulation and flushing of the bay is most enhanced, due to increasing wind speeds and the absence of an ice cover. Dispersion scenarios were carried out assuming a leakage at dumped objects. During most of the year the obtained tracer concentrations in the bay are higher in the upper layers than close to the bottom, indicating an outflow at the surface and a compensatory inflow below. This general pattern is only reversed during spring and early summer, when the wind directions change. Since ice problems make it almost impossible to monitor surface waters or even the whole water column in a shallow bay, the only way to install a monitoring system, is at the bottom of the bay, as close as possible to dumped objects. Data transmission via satellite or radio could be realized from a small station located on the bay's edge.

Arctic Regions↗
PubMed2000

Thickness of tropical ice and photosynthesis on a snowball Earth.

On a completely ice-covered "snowball" Earth the thickness of ice in the tropical regions would be limited by the sunlight penetrating into the ice cover and by the latent heat flux generated by freezing at the ice bottom--the freezing rate would balance the sublimation rate from the top of the ice cover. Heat transfer models of the perennially ice-covered Antarctic dry valley lakes applied to the snowball Earth indicate that the tropical ice cover would have a thickness of 10 m or less with a corresponding transmissivity of > 0.1%. This light level is adequate for photosynthesis and could explain the survival of the eukaryotic algae.

Antarctic Regions↗
PubMed1994

Paleolimnology of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica.

The McMurdo Dry Valleys presently contain more than 20 permanent lakes and ponds, which vary markedly in character. All, with the exception of a hypersaline pond, have a perennial ice-cover. The dry valley lakes, and lakes in other ice-free regions of continental Antarctica, are unique on this planet in that they consistently maintain a thick year-round ice cover (2.8-6.0 m) over liquid water. The persistent ice covers minimize wind-generated currents and reduce light penetration, as well as restricting sediment deposition into a lake and the exchange of atmospheric gases between the water column and the atmosphere. From a paleolimnological perspective, the dry valley lakes offer an important record of catchment and environmental changes. These lakes are also modern-day equivalents of periglacial lakes that were common during glacial periods at temperate latitudes. The present lakes are mostly remnants of larger glacial lakes that occupied the valleys in the past, perhaps up to 4.6 Ma ago. Two of the valleys contain evidence of being filled with large glacial lakes within the last 10000 years. Repeated drying and filling events since then have left a characteristic impression on the salt profiles of some lakes creating a unique paleo-indicator within the water column. These events are also marked in the sediments by the concentration and dilution of certain chemical constituents, particularly salts, and are also corroborated by carbonate speciation and oxygen isotope analysis. Stratigraphic analysis of dry valley lake sediments is made difficult by the occurrence of an 'old carbon' reservoir creating spurious radiocarbon dates, and by the high degree of spatial variability in lake sedimentation. From a biological perspective, the lakes are relatively simple, containing various taxa of planktonic and benthic microorganisms, but no higher forms of life, which is an advantage to paleolimnologists because there is no bioturbation in the sediments. Useful biological paleo-indicators found in the sediments include cyanobacterial filament sheaths, diatom frustules and other eukaryotic algal cells, protozoan cysts, photosynthetic pigments, and minerals (e.g. carbonates) associated with microbial activity. Future work will benefit from fully characterizing the connection between the ice covers, environmental conditions, and paleo-indicators, thereby allowing refinement of inferences made concerning the paleoenvironment. New dating techniques need to be tested in this environment to overcome the problems associated with radiocarbon dating. The establishment of a detailed and focused paleolimnological campaign is proposed.

Antarctic Regions↗
PubMed2000

Arctic sea ice and climate change--will the ice disappear in this century?

A consensus among climate change prediction scenarios using coupled ocean-climate general circulation models (GCMs) is enhanced warming in the Arctic. This suggests that changes in the Arctic sea ice cover may provide early indications of global warming. Observational evidence of substantial changes in the ice cover has been found recently using data from satellites and submarines. Satellite-borne microwave sensor data analyses have established a 3% per decade decrease in the spatial extent of the Arctic ice cover in the past 20 years. Moreover, a 7% per decade decrease in thicker, multi-year (perennial) ice pack has been revealed. This apparent transformation is corroborated by independent data that indicate substantial decreases in the average ice thickness from 3.1 to 1.8 m from the 1950s/1970s to the mid 1990s, averaging about 4 cm per year. It remains uncertain whether these observed changes are manifestations of global warming or are the result of anomalous atmospheric circulation--or both. However, if the recent trends continue, the Arctic sea ice cover could disappear this century, at least in summer, with important consequences for the regional and global ocean-climate system. This article synthesizes recent variability and trends in Arctic sea ice in the perspective of global climate change, and discusses their potential ramifications.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Estimating duration and intensity of Neoproterozoic snowball glaciations from Ir anomalies.

The Neoproterozoic glaciations supposedly ended in a supergreenhouse environment, which led to rapid melting of the ice cover and precipitation of the so-called cap carbonates. If Earth was covered with ice, then extraterrestrial material would have accumulated on and within the ice and precipitated during rapid melting at the end of the glaciation. We found iridium (Ir) anomalies at the base of cap carbonates in three drill cores from the Eastern Congo craton. Our data confirm the presence of extended global Neoproterozoic glaciations and indicate that the duration of the Marinoan glacial episode was at least 3 million, and most likely 12 million, years.

Journal Article↗