West Greenland Lakes: Abrupt Transformations Following Compound Extremes Associated With Atmospheric Rivers, 2013-2024

Arctic lake ecosystems are sites of high biodiversity that play an important role in carbon cycling, yet the impacts of emerging warmer and wetter conditions on the ecology of these lakes is poorly understood, partly owing to insufficient long-term data. Using a 10-year dataset, we report on an abrupt, coherent, climate-driven transformation of Arctic lakes in Greenland, demonstrating how a season of both record heat and rainfall drove a state change in these systems. This change from “blue” to “brown” lake states altered numerous physical, chemical, and biological lake features. This dataset has been analyzed in a manuscript submitted to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) titled: Abrupt transformation of West Greenland lakes following compound climate extremes associated with atmospheric rivers.