Lake effect on summer cooling of shorelines and adjacent inland forests on Lake Superior’s north shore

Climate refugia, or areas that are projected to remain relatively stable under climate change, can serve as remnant habitat or steeping stones for species dispersal. The largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, Lake Superior, serves as a model system for understanding cooling-mediated local refugia, as its cool summer water temperatures and wave action have maintained shoreline habitats suitable for disjunct opulations for arctic-alpine plants since deglaciation. It is known to affect local climates by providing a summer cooling effect near its shorelines, however, the inland gradient of change and spatial patterns of cooling has not been quantified. Here, we describe the extent of the inland cooling gradient, the degree of temperature buffering, and patterns of cooling for Lake Superior's north shore over a 3-year period. Specifically, we established 7 transects along Lake Superior's north shore, with temperature data loggers placed at 10 m, 100 m, 1 km, 10 km, and 100 km ..., , , GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Dataset title: Lake effect on summer cooling of shorelines and adjacent inland forests on Lake Superior’s north shore

2. Author Information
A. Corresponding Author Contact Information
Name: Ashley Hillman
Institution: University of Alberta
Email:

B. Principal Investigator Contact Information
Name: Scott Nielsen
Institution: University of Alberta
Email:

3. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date): July 2018- July 2021

4. Geographic location of data collection: Lake Superior, Ontario, Canada

5. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

DATA & FILE OVERVIEW

This dataset contains time series temperature data for 7 transects arranged west to east on Lake Superior's north shore.
Due to file size, raw data is separated by Location. Mean daily temperature is provideded for all data in the file Hillm...