Diminishing cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake due to shrinking water surfaces
Cooling is an important ecosystem service provided by lakes, yet how its strength changes over time remains unclear, particularly for lakes sensitive to climate change. We assessed the cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake from 1980 to 2023. On average, the lake can cool the basin land...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25010295 |
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| author | Zhuoyu Li Xiaosong Zhao Xingwang Fan Yanyu Lu Lejun Zhao Aoqi Wu |
| author_facet | Zhuoyu Li Xiaosong Zhao Xingwang Fan Yanyu Lu Lejun Zhao Aoqi Wu |
| author_sort | Zhuoyu Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cooling is an important ecosystem service provided by lakes, yet how its strength changes over time remains unclear, particularly for lakes sensitive to climate change. We assessed the cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake from 1980 to 2023. On average, the lake can cool the basin land within 60 km, reducing the respective annual mean air temperature (Ta) and apparent temperature (AT) by 0.37 °C and 0.86 °C. The daily maximum temperatures can be lowered by up to 3 °C. A regime shift has been observed since 2003, with the lake’s cooling effect weakening by 23 % for Ta and 29 % for AT, mainly due to shrinking water surfaces and reduced water storage. As a result, the capacity of heat storage and heat release has been impaired by 17% and 37%, respectively, weakening the lake’s thermal buffering role. Extreme events exert divergent impacts: the cooling effect persisted during drought years, but a warming effect occurred during flood years due to cloud cover suppressing evaporation. Our findings highlight how hydrological changes affect lake cooling and emphasize the value of lakes in reducing extreme heat in a warming climate. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8c69c85c40de4a4fb4f8d9619bd021a3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj-art-8c69c85c40de4a4fb4f8d9619bd021a32025-08-25T04:14:10ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2025-09-0117811409710.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114097Diminishing cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake due to shrinking water surfacesZhuoyu Li0Xiaosong Zhao1Xingwang Fan2Yanyu Lu3Lejun Zhao4Aoqi Wu5State Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China; School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China; Corresponding authors.State Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China; Corresponding authors.Anhui Institute of Meteorological Sciences, Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Science and Satellite Remote Sensing, Hefei 230031, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 211135, ChinaCooling is an important ecosystem service provided by lakes, yet how its strength changes over time remains unclear, particularly for lakes sensitive to climate change. We assessed the cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake from 1980 to 2023. On average, the lake can cool the basin land within 60 km, reducing the respective annual mean air temperature (Ta) and apparent temperature (AT) by 0.37 °C and 0.86 °C. The daily maximum temperatures can be lowered by up to 3 °C. A regime shift has been observed since 2003, with the lake’s cooling effect weakening by 23 % for Ta and 29 % for AT, mainly due to shrinking water surfaces and reduced water storage. As a result, the capacity of heat storage and heat release has been impaired by 17% and 37%, respectively, weakening the lake’s thermal buffering role. Extreme events exert divergent impacts: the cooling effect persisted during drought years, but a warming effect occurred during flood years due to cloud cover suppressing evaporation. Our findings highlight how hydrological changes affect lake cooling and emphasize the value of lakes in reducing extreme heat in a warming climate.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25010295Lake cooling effectWater level declineApparent temperatureDroughtHeatwave |
| spellingShingle | Zhuoyu Li Xiaosong Zhao Xingwang Fan Yanyu Lu Lejun Zhao Aoqi Wu Diminishing cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake due to shrinking water surfaces Ecological Indicators Lake cooling effect Water level decline Apparent temperature Drought Heatwave |
| title | Diminishing cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake due to shrinking water surfaces |
| title_full | Diminishing cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake due to shrinking water surfaces |
| title_fullStr | Diminishing cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake due to shrinking water surfaces |
| title_full_unstemmed | Diminishing cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake due to shrinking water surfaces |
| title_short | Diminishing cooling effects of China’s largest freshwater lake due to shrinking water surfaces |
| title_sort | diminishing cooling effects of china s largest freshwater lake due to shrinking water surfaces |
| topic | Lake cooling effect Water level decline Apparent temperature Drought Heatwave |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25010295 |
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