Winter Climate and Lake Morphology Control Ice Phenology and Under-Ice Temperature and Oxygen Regimes in Mountain Lakes

Warming winters will reduce ice cover and change under-ice conditions in temperate mountain lakes, where snow contributes most of winter cover on lakes. Snow-dominated mountain lakes are abundant and highly susceptible to climate warming, yet we lack an understanding of how climate variation and local attributes influence winter processes. We investigated climatic and intrinsic controls on ice phenology, water temperature, and bottom-water dissolved oxygen (DO) in 15 morphologically diverse lakes in the Sierra Nevada and Klamath Mountains of California, USA, using high-frequency measurements from multiple (2–5) winters. We found that ice phenology was determined by winter climate variables (snowfall and air temperature) that influence ice-off timing, whereas ice-on timing was relatively invariant among years. Lake size and morphology mediated the effect of climate on lake temperature and DO dynamics in early and late winter. Rates of hypolimnetic DO decline were highest in small, shallow lakes, and were unrelated to water temperature. Temperature and oxygen dynamics were more variable in small lakes because heavy snowfall caused ice submergence, mixing, and DO replenishment that affected the entire water column. As the persistence of snow declines in temperate mountain regions, autumn, and spring climatic conditions are expected to gain importance in regulating lake ice phenology. Water temperature and DO will likely increase in most lakes during winter as snowpack declines, but morphological attributes such as lake size will determine the sensitivity of ice phenology and under-ice processes to climate change.