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Understanding Wind Speed Increases Over Lake Superior: Insights and Implications

This study examines the increasing wind speed over Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake by area globally. The changes in wind patterns are linked to broader climate trends, highlighting the Great Lakes' significance as vital freshwater resources and climate change indicators. Factors such as temperature changes, ice trends, and regional meteorological influences are discussed. This research aims to provide a better understanding of the physical and biogeochemical processes at play in this complex system and their impact on ecosystems, climate, and local economies.

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Understanding Wind Speed Increases Over Lake Superior: Insights and Implications

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  1. Why Has Wind Speed Increased Over Lake Superior? Ankur Desai AOS 405, Spring 2010 desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  2. What’s Happening in the Great Lakes? desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  3. Why Great Lakes Are Interesting • Important freshwater source = 22% of world’s fresh surface water, could cover all of lower 48 with 3m of water • Great Lakes important to regional economy • Large lakes are regional sentinels of climate change • Great Lakes more ocean-like than lake-like in physical and biogeochemical processes • Great Lakes have been globally important long term sinks of carbon in sediments desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  4. Why Lake Superior Is Interesting • Largest freshwater lake in world by area • 82,400 km2 • 3rd largest freshwater lake by volume • Average depth 147m, max 406m • Relatively undeveloped shoreline • But important shipping route • Large enough to create regional microclimate • 180 year residence time of water = buffer effect • Midwestern location = strongly affected by cyclones and climate warming desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  5. Complex System • But data are sparse! desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  6. (Surprising) Large Variability desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  7. What Is My Lab Doing Getting Wet? • My lab studies surface-atmosphere interaction, boundary-layer meteorology, and terrestrial biogeochemistry/carbon cycle • Regional climate changes interact with boundary layer, surface-atmosphere exchange, and biogeochemistry • We use experiments, observation diagnoses, and model-data syntheses to answer questions about these systems • We are funded to work on Lake Superior biogeochemistry with Galen McKinley desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  8. Overview • Climate Trends • Wind Speed • Physical Models of Lake Superior desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  9. Climate Trends desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  10. Temperature Cycle desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  11. Temperature Profiles desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  12. Temperature Trends • Air: 1.05 C decade-1vs Lake: 1.21 C decade-1 desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  13. Histogram of Shifts • Dotted = 1985-1994, solid = 1999-2008 desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  14. Land Surface Effect? • 0.7 C decade-1 in 2m temps over land • -0.08 C decade-1 land surface-air diff. desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  15. Ice Trends • Declining trends in mean ice cover desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  16. Ice Influences Summer Temp • Austin and Colman (2007) desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  17. The Long View • Austin and Colman (2008) desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  18. Warming Trends desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  19. Season Length desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  20. Putting It All Together desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  21. Lake Level Effect? • Evaporation increases, runoff decreases? desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  22. Regional Water Levels desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  23. Wind Speed Trend desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  24. Sparse Observations desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  25. Messy Observations • Buoy observations corrected for a vector-averaging low bias • Satellite scatterometery used to evaluate wind speeds in latter part of record desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  26. Observed Trend Over Lake • 0.22 m s-1 dec-1vs 0.15 m s-1 dec-1 desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  27. Wind Speed Distribution • Shifts are due to central tendency not gusts • Dotted = 1985-1994, solid = 1999-2008 desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  28. Stability Effect on Wind • DT = Lake temp – Air temp desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  29. Basin Average Relationship • X: Water-air temp gradient • Y: Land-above lake wind speed difference desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  30. An Alternate Hypothesis • Klump et al (2002) • Shift in storm track? desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  31. An Alternate Hypothesis • Doesn’t seem to be the case here • Dotted = 1985-1994, solid = 1999-2008 desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  32. Large Scale Circulation • Reanalysis does suggest an increase from 1980s-2000s in regional wind speeds at 850 mb of 0.15 m s-1 dec-1, but not significant desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  33. Physical Models of Lake Superior desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  34. What We Know desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  35. Computation domain: 2km • MIT-GCM ocean model applied to a lake desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  36. Why 2km? desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  37. Model Progress • Forced with NARR 32km surface meteorology desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  38. Model Progress desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  39. Model Progress desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  40. Wind Speed Impacts desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  41. Conclusions • Regional warming is reducing ice cover • Reduced ice cover is increasing summer stratified season length and temperatures faster than air temperatures • One consequence is higher wind speeds • However, alternate hypotheses related to large-scale circulation needs more examination • Progress is being made on modeling the effect of these wind speed and temperature trends on lake currents and biogeochemistry desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

  42. Thanks • Thanks to J. Austin (U MN Duluth / LLO), V. Bennington (UW-Madison), G. McKinley (UW-Madison) • Funding from NSF/OCN Carbon and Water • Desai, A.R., Austin, J.A., Bennington, V., and McKinley, G.A., 2009. Stronger winds over a large lake in response to a weakening air to lake temperature gradient. Nature-Geoscience, 855-858, doi:10.1038/NGEO693. desai@aos.wisc.edu http://atlantic.aos.wisc.edu/~superior

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