One‐Hundred Fundamental, Open Questions to Integrate Methodological Approaches in Lake Ice Research

Abstract The rate of technological innovation within aquatic sciences outpaces the collective ability of individual scientists within the field to make appropriate use of those technologies. The process of in situ lake sampling remains the primary choice to comprehensively understand an aquatic ecosystem at local scales; however, the impact of climate change on lakes necessitates the rapid advancement of understanding and the incorporation of lakes on both landscape and global scales. Three fields driving innovation within winter limnology that we address here are autonomous real‐time in situ monitoring, remote sensing, and modeling. The recent progress in low‐power in situ sensing and data telemetry allows continuous tracing of under‐ice processes in selected lakes as well as the development of global lake observational networks. Remote sensing offers consistent monitoring of numerous systems, allowing limnologists to ask certain questions across large scales. Models are advancing and historically come in different types (process‐based or statistical data‐driven), with the recent technological advancements and integration of machine learning and hybrid process‐based/statistical models. Lake ice modeling enhances our understanding of lake dynamics and allows for projections under future climate warming scenarios. To encourage the merging of technological innovation within limnological research of the less‐studied winter period, we have accumulated both essential details on the history and uses of contemporary sampling, remote sensing, and modeling techniques. We crafted 100 questions in the field of winter limnology that aim to facilitate the cross‐pollination of intensive and extensive modes of study to broaden knowledge of the winter period.

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Publication Details

Journal
Water Resources Research
Published
2025-05-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024wr039042
Citations
7
Primary Topic
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
9.11

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article

One‐Hundred Fundamental, Open Questions to Integrate Methodological Approaches in Lake Ice Research

Grant Gunn, Manu Tom, Benjamin Jones, Bethel G. Steele et al.
7 citations
Water Resources Research
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
9.11
article

One‐Hundred Fundamental, Open Questions to Integrate Methodological Approaches in Lake Ice Research

Grant Gunn, Manu Tom, Benjamin Jones, Bethel G. Steele, Robert Ladwig, John J. Magnuson, Wayana Dolan, Richard Iestyn Woolway, Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer, Christopher D. Arp, Georgiy Kirillin, Tamlin M. Pavelsky, Michael F. Meyer, Madeline R. Magee, Marguerite A. Xenopoulos, Di Long, Joshua Culpepper, Claude Duguay, Eric J. Anderson, Sebastiano Piccolroaz, Dale M. Robertson, Hilary A. Dugan, Matti Leppäranta, Sapna Sharma, Xiao Yang, Sarah Cooley
article en
7 citations

Abstract

Abstract The rate of technological innovation within aquatic sciences outpaces the collective ability of individual scientists within the field to make appropriate use of those technologies. The process of in situ lake sampling remains the primary choice to comprehensively understand an aquatic ecosystem at local scales; however, the impact of climate change on lakes necessitates the rapid advancement of understanding and the incorporation of lakes on both landscape and global scales. Three fields driving innovation within winter limnology that we address here are autonomous real‐time in situ monitoring, remote sensing, and modeling. The recent progress in low‐power in situ sensing and data telemetry allows continuous tracing of under‐ice processes in selected lakes as well as the development of global lake observational networks. Remote sensing offers consistent monitoring of numerous systems, allowing limnologists to ask certain questions across large scales. Models are advancing and historically come in different types (process‐based or statistical data‐driven), with the recent technological advancements and integration of machine learning and hybrid process‐based/statistical models. Lake ice modeling enhances our understanding of lake dynamics and allows for projections under future climate warming scenarios. To encourage the merging of technological innovation within limnological research of the less‐studied winter period, we have accumulated both essential details on the history and uses of contemporary sampling, remote sensing, and modeling techniques. We crafted 100 questions in the field of winter limnology that aim to facilitate the cross‐pollination of intensive and extensive modes of study to broaden knowledge of the winter period.

Water Resources ResearchVol. 61(5)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US), Uppsala University (SE), United States Geological Survey (US), University of Helsinki (FI), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), University of Alaska Fairbanks (US), University of Waterloo (CA), Bangor University (GB), Colorado School of Mines (US), Duke University (US), Southern Methodist University (US), University of Oregon (US), York University (CA), University of Trento (IT), University of Zurich (CH), Aarhus University (DK), Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (US), Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (DE), Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH), Trent University (CA), Colorado State University (US), Tsinghua University (CN)
National Science Foundation, ArcticNet, Canada Research Chairs, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
9.11
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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