Researchers from Institute of Earth Sciences: Bogdan Gadek and Bartlomiej Szypula with PhD candidate, Miroslaw Szumny presents the results of a classification of the Tatra lakes in the context of the impact of current climate change on the mountain environment. It was found that the order of freezing and thawing of the lakes investigated may change from year to year. The relationship between ice cover duration and altitude is clearly weakened by variations in lake volumes, with insolation having a noticeably lesser effect. Five groups of lakes displaying similar characteristics were identified as well as 2 groups of lakes with highly individual characteristics. Based on the data obtained, it can be concluded that the duration of ice cover on the Tatra lakes has been shortening noticeably over the last 100 years. Small high-altitude lakes seem to be most vulnerable to climate change.
Bogdan Gądek, Mirosław Szumny, Bartłomiej Szypuła, 2020: Classification of the Tatra Mountains lakes due to the duration of the ice cover (Poland and Slovakia). Journal of Limnology, Vol. 79 No. 1, doi:10.4081/jlimnol.2019.1920
Fig.: Locations and groups of Tatra lakes
