@article {5022, title = {One-hundred fundamental, open questions to integrate methodological approaches in lake ice research}, journal = {Water Resources Research}, volume = {61}, year = {2025}, month = {05/2025}, pages = {e2024WR039042}, abstract = {

The rate of technological innovation within aquatic sciences outpaces the collective ability of individual scientists within the field to make appropriate use of those technologies. The process of in situ lake sampling remains the primary choice to comprehensively understand an aquatic ecosystem at local scales; however, the impact of climate change on lakes necessitates the rapid advancement of understanding and the incorporation of lakes on both landscape and global scales. Three fields driving innovation within winter limnology that we address here are autonomous real-time in situ monitoring, remote sensing, and modeling. The recent progress in low-power in situ sensing and data telemetry allows continuous tracing of under-ice processes in selected lakes as well as the development of global lake observational networks. Remote sensing offers consistent monitoring of numerous systems, allowing limnologists to ask certain questions across large scales. Models are advancing and historically come in different types (process-based or statistical data-driven), with the recent technological advancements and integration of machine learning and hybrid process-based/statistical models. Lake ice modeling enhances our understanding of lake dynamics and allows for projections under future climate warming scenarios. To encourage the merging of technological innovation within limnological research of the less-studied winter period, we have accumulated both essential details on the history and uses of contemporary sampling, remote sensing, and modeling techniques. We crafted 100 questions in the field of winter limnology that aim to facilitate the cross-pollination of intensive and extensive modes of study to broaden knowledge of the winter period.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, cryosphere, lake ice, limnology, modeling, remote sensing}, issn = {0043-1397}, doi = {10.1029/2024WR039042}, url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024WR039042}, author = {Culpepper, Joshua and Sharma, Sapna and Gunn, Grant and Magee, Madeline R. and Meyer, Michael F. and Anderson, Eric J. and Arp, Chris and Cooley, Sarah W. and Dolan, Wayana and Hilary A. Dugan and Duguay, Claude R. and Jones, Benjamin M. and Kirillin, Georgiy and Ladwig, Robert and Lepp{\"a}ranta, Matti and Long, Di and Magnuson, John J. and Pavelsky, Tamlin and Piccolroaz, Sebastiano and Robertson, Dale M. and Steele, Bethel G. and Tom, Manu and Weyhenmeyer, Gesa A. and Woolway, R. Iestyn and Xenopoulos, Marguerite A. and Yang, Xiao} } @thesis {5025, title = {The temporal and spatial dynamics of surface sediment on the permanently frozen lakes of Taylor Valley, Antarctica}, volume = {M.S.}, year = {2025}, month = {05/2025}, school = {University of Wisconsin-Madison}, type = {Master{\textquoteright}s thesis}, address = {Madison, WI}, abstract = {

The McMurdo Dry Valleys are the largest unglaciated region of Antarctica and are home to some of the only perennially frozen lakes in the world. The ice covers of the Taylor Valley lakes are subject to decadal-length fluctuations in thickness, largely ranging between three and five meters thick. It has been hypothesized that the changes in ice cover thickness are due to a combination of climate factors and lake ice surface characteristics, but as of yet there have been no studies focusing on interannual dynamics of lake ice albedo by leveraging remote sensing datasets. Landsat 8 imagery was manipulated using spectral mixture analysis to find the abundance of sediment cover across three different Taylor Valley lakes from 2016-2024 during the sunlit period of the year. Peak sediment coverage was not synchronous across years, with Lake Hoare peaking the earliest in 2021, followed by East Lake Bonney and Lake Fryxell in 2023. West Lake Bonney had no apparent peak, although concentrations have declined since 2021. Overall sediment abundance values across all lakes ranged from near 0\% to over 75\%, though each lake has a different level of sediment coverage. Lake Fryxell and Lake Hoare had the highest mean sediment concentrations, followed by East Lake Bonney, then West Lake Bonney. The relationship between ice thickness and sediment coverage was strongest at Lake Fryxell, followed by East Lake Bonney. Lake Hoare and West Lake Bonney appear to have weaker links between ice thickness and surface sediment, likely driven by differences in overall sediment cover and shading from the surrounding landscape. Ice surface albedo is a historically understudied component of ice physical structure and thermal mechanics and should be more closely considered in future studies predicting ice thickness in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, especially in cases to predict total ice loss. Permanently frozen lakes exhibit unique ice dynamics compared to seasonally freezing lakes, due to their consistent lake ice, where previous years ice conditions have a large effect on ice into the future. The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs), a large unglaciated region in Antarctica, contain many of the few permanently frozen lakes that exist globally. Albedo is a critical factor influencing lake ice mass balance and may strongly govern lake ice thickness. Changes in surface albedo on MDVs lakes occur as a result of aeolian sediment deposition from the surrounding bare soil landscape or physical changes in ice quality throughout the summer, like ice whitening. To investigate the importance of surface characteristics of Taylor Valley lake ice, a one-dimensional thermal diffusion model was developed using in situ meteorological data and a satellite derived ice albedo estimates to simulate ice thickness on East Lake Bonney, Antarctica. Ice thickness was modeled from late 2016 through 2024 using a novel ice albedo dataset, derived from Landsat 8 imagery using linear spectral mixture analysis. Estimated albedo values ranged from 0.5-0.85, covering years when sediment cover was very heavy to very low. Modeled ice thickness was strongly correlated with measured thicknesses. For the period of the year where manual ice thickness measurements are made, modeled ice thicknesses ranged between 2.92-4.16 m, where measured values for that same time span ranged between 3.06-4.19 m. When either increasing or decreasing albedo by 5-10\%, mean ice thicknesses diverged by up to 0.8 m. Ice thicknesses are strongly influenced by surface sediment concentrations, and the contribution of a tailored albedo dataset was a valuable input that has historically been over-simplified.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, aeolian geomorphology, McMurdo Dry Valleys, permanently frozen lakes, polar lakes, remote sensing}, url = {http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/95194}, author = {Dougherty, Charles E.}, editor = {Hilary A. Dugan} } @article {5002, title = {Measuring and modelling functional moat area in perennially ice-covered Lake Fryxell, Antarctica}, journal = {Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research}, volume = {56}, year = {2024}, month = {10/2024}, abstract = {

The perennially ice-covered lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs), Antarctica, are an important reservoir of liquid water in an arid and largely frozen environment. During the austral summer, the margins of these ice covers melt, forming a \“moat\” of liquid water and thin ice, allowing exchange between lake waters and the atmosphere to occur and serving as an interface between lake, soil, and stream ecosystems. The size of these moats varies from year to year. Here, we have established the first published record of moat area changes at MDVs\’ Lake Fryxell through time using manual traces of the moat as observed via satellite imagery. We have also tested a semi-automated approach for measuring moat area and found that it consistently underestimated the manual record, which we suspect may be due to the lower spatial resolution of images used in this versus the manual approach. Finally, we developed a predictive model based on readily available climate data, allowing moat area to be predicted beyond the limits of the satellite-based records. We found that functional moat area varies annually, potentially influencing ecosystem processes in the moats.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Lake Fryxell, lake ice, McMurdo Dry Valleys, moat, NDWI, predictive model}, issn = {1523-0430}, doi = {10.1080/15230430.2024.2406626}, url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15230430.2024.2406626}, author = {Stone, Michael S. and Salvatore, Mark R. and Hilary A. Dugan and Myers, Madeline and Peter T. Doran} } @article {4989, title = {Response of a terrestrial polar ecosystem to the March 2022 Antarctic weather anomaly}, journal = {Earth{\textquoteright}s Future}, volume = {12}, year = {2024}, month = {08/2024}, pages = {e2023EF004306}, abstract = {

Record high temperatures were documented in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, on 18 March 2022, exceeding average temperatures for that day by nearly 30\°C. Satellite imagery and stream gage measurements indicate that surface wetting coincided with this warming more than 2 months after peak summer thaw and likely exceeded thresholds for rehydration and activation of resident organisms that typically survive the cold and dry conditions of the polar fall in a freeze-dried state. This weather event is notable in both the timing and magnitude of the warming and wetting when temperatures exceeded 0\°C at a time when biological communities and streams have typically entered a persistent frozen state. Such events may be a harbinger of future climate conditions characterized by warmer temperatures and greater thaw in this region of Antarctica, which could influence the distribution, activity, and abundance of sentinel taxa. Here we describe the ecosystem responses to this weather anomaly reporting on meteorological and hydrological measurements across the region and on later biological observations from Canada Stream, one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems within the McMurdo Dry Valleys.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, atmospheric river, climate variability, extreme weather, polar desert, soil biota}, issn = {2328-4277}, doi = {10.1029/2023EF004306}, url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023EF004306}, author = {John E. Barrett and Adams, Byron J. and Doran, Peter T. and Hilary A. Dugan and Myers, Krista F. and Salvatore, Mark R. and Power, Sarah N. and Snyder, Meredith D. and Wright, Anna T. and Michael N. Gooseff} } @article {4844, title = {Causes and characteristics of electrical resistivity variability in shallow (<4 m) soils in Taylor Valley, East Antarctica}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface}, volume = {128}, year = {2023}, month = {02/2023}, pages = {e2022JF006696}, abstract = {

Airborne electromagnetic surveys collected in December 2011 and November 2018 and three soil sampling transects were used to analyze the spatial heterogeneity of shallow (\<4 m) soil properties in lower Taylor Valley (TV), East Antarctica. Soil resistivities from 2011 to 2018 ranged from \∼33 Ωm to \∼3,500 Ωm with 200 Ωm assigned as an upper boundary for brine-saturated sediments. Elevations below \∼50 m above sea level (masl) typically exhibit the lowest resistivities with resistivity increasing at high elevations on steeper slopes. Soil water content was empirically estimated from electrical resistivities using Archie\&$\#$39;s Law and range from \∼\<1\% to \∼68\% by volume. An increase in silt- and clay-sized particles at low elevations increases soil porosity but decreases hydraulic conductivity, promoting greater residence times of soil water at low elevations near Lake Fryxell. Soil resistivity variability between 2011 and 2018 shows soils at different stages of soil freeze-thaw cycles, which are caused predominantly by solar warming of soils as opposed to air temperature. This study furthers the understanding of the hydrogeologic structure of the shallow subsurface in TV and identifies locations of soils that are potentially prone to greater rates of thaw and resulting ecosystem homogenization of soil properties from projected increases in hydrological connectivity across the region over the coming decades.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, active layer, airborne electromagnetic surveys, McMurdo Dry Valleys, permafrost dynamics}, issn = {2169-9003}, doi = {10.1029/2022JF006696}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022JF006696}, author = {Gutterman, William S. and Peter T. Doran and Ross A. Virginia and John E. Barrett and Myers, Krista F. and Tulaczyk, Slawek M. and Foley, Neil T. and Jill A. Mikucki and Hilary A. Dugan and Grombacher, Denys and Bording, Thue S. and Auken, E.} } @article {4714, title = {Barotropic seiches in a perennially ice-covered lake, East Antarctica}, journal = {Limnology and Oceanography Letters}, volume = {7}, year = {2022}, month = {02/2022}, pages = {26 - 33}, abstract = {

Water movement in ice-covered lakes is known to be driven by wind, sediment heat flux, solar radiation, saline density flows, and advective stream discharge. In large ice-covered lakes, wind-induced oscillations have been found to play a major role in horizontal flows. Here, we report recurrent, wind-driven, barotropic seiches in a small lake with a thick (4 m) permanent ice-cover. Between 2010 and 2016, we recorded 10.5- to 13-min oscillations of the hydrostatic water level in Lake Hoare, McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica, using pressure transducers moored to the lake bottom and suspended from the ice cover. Theoretical calculations showed a barotropic seiche should have a period of 12.6 min. Barotropic seiches were most frequent during high wind events (\> 5 m s-1) in winter months (February\–November). The period increased during summer months (December\–January) when fast ice thinned and melted along the shoreline.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {2378-2242}, doi = {10.1002/lol2.10226}, url = {https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lol2.10226}, author = {Castendyk, Devin and Hilary A. Dugan and Gallagher, Hugh A. and Pujara, Nimish and Peter T. Doran and John C. Priscu and W. Berry Lyons} } @article {4647, title = {Thermal legacy of a large paleolake in Taylor Valley, East Antarctica, as evidenced by an airborne electromagnetic survey}, journal = {The Cryosphere}, volume = {15}, year = {2021}, month = {08/2021}, pages = {3577 - 3593}, abstract = {

Previous studies of the lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys have attempted to constrain lake level history, and results suggest the lakes have undergone hundreds of meters of lake level change within the last 20 000 years. Past studies have utilized the interpretation of geologic deposits, lake chemistry, and ice sheet history to deduce lake level history; however a substantial amount of disagreement remains between the findings, indicating a need for further investigation using new techniques. This study utilizes a regional airborne resistivity survey to provide novel insight into the paleohydrology of the region. Mean resistivity maps revealed an extensive brine beneath the Lake Fryxell basin, which is interpreted as a legacy groundwater signal from higher lake levels in the past. Resistivity data suggest that active permafrost formation has been ongoing since the onset of lake drainage and that as recently as 1500\–4000 years BP, lake levels were over 60 m higher than present. This coincides with a warmer-than-modern paleoclimate throughout the Holocene inferred by the nearby Taylor Dome ice core record. Our results indicate Mid to Late Holocene lake level high stands, which runs counter to previous research finding a colder and drier era with little hydrologic activity throughout the last 5000 years.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.5194/tc-15-3577-2021}, url = {https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3577/2021/}, author = {Myers, Krista F. and Peter T. Doran and Tulaczyk, Slawek M. and Foley, Neil T. and Bording, Thue S. and Auken, Esben and Hilary A. Dugan and Jill A. Mikucki and Foged, Nikolaj and Grombacher, Denys and Ross A. Virginia} } @article {3707, title = {High-resolution ground-penetrating radar profiles of perennial lake ice in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: Horizon attributes, unconformities, and subbottom penetration}, journal = {GEOPHYSICS}, volume = {81}, year = {2016}, month = {01/2016}, pages = {WA13 - WA20}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {0016-8033}, doi = {10.1190/geo2015-0159.1}, url = {http://library.seg.org/doi/10.1190/geo2015-0159.1}, author = {Hilary A. Dugan and Arcone, Steven A. and Maciek K. Obryk and Peter T. Doran} } @article {3012, title = {Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dry valley}, journal = {Nature Communications}, volume = {6}, year = {2015}, month = {Apr-04-2017}, pages = {6831}, abstract = {The occurrence of groundwater in Antarctica, particularly in the ice-free regions and along the coastal margins is poorly understood. Here we use an airborne transient electromagnetic (AEM) sensor to produce extensive imagery of resistivity beneath Taylor Valley. Regional-scale zones of low subsurface resistivity were detected that are inconsistent with the high resistivity of glacier ice or dry permafrost in this region. We interpret these results as an indication that liquid, with sufficiently high solute content, exists at temperatures well below freezing and considered within the range suitable for microbial life. These inferred brines are widespread within permafrost and extend below glaciers and lakes. One system emanates from below Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney and a second system connects the ocean with the eastern 18 km of the valley. A connection between these two basins was not detected to the depth limitation of the AEM survey (~350 m).}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms7831}, url = {http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/ncomms7831}, author = {Jill A. Mikucki and Auken, E. and Tulaczyk, S and Ross A. Virginia and Schamper, C. and S{\o}rensen, K. I. and Peter T. Doran and Hilary A. Dugan and Foley, N.} } @article {3214, title = {Autonomous Year-Round Sampling and Sensing to Explore the Physical and Biological Habitability of Permanently Ice-Covered Antarctic Lakes}, journal = {Marine Technology Society Journal}, volume = {48}, year = {2014}, month = {Jan-09-2014}, pages = {8 - 17}, abstract = {

The lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, are some of the only systems on our planet that are perennially ice-covered and support year-round metabolism. As such, these ecosystems can provide important information on conditions and life in polar regions on Earth and on other icy worlds in our solar system. Working in these extreme environments of the Dry Valleys poses many challenges, particularly with respect to data collection during dark winter months when logistical constraints make fieldwork difficult. In this paper, we describe the motivation, design, and challenges for this recently deployed instrumentation in Lake Bonney, a lake that has been the subject of summer research efforts for more than 40 years. The instrumentation deployed includes autonomous water, phytoplankton, and sediment samplers as well as cable-mounted profiling platforms with dissolved gas and fluorometry sensors. Data obtained from these instruments will allow us, for the first time, to define the habitability of this environment during the polar night. We include lessons learned during deployment and recommendations for effective instrument operation in these extreme conditions.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, issn = {00253324}, doi = {10.4031/MTSJ.48.5.6}, url = {http://openurl.ingenta.com/content/xref?genre=article\&issn=0025-3324\&volume=48\&issue=5\&spage=8http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mts/mtsj/2014/00000048/00000005/art00002}, author = {Winslow, Luke A. and Hilary A. Dugan and Heather N. Buelow and Cronin, Kyle D. and John C. Priscu and Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach and Peter T. Doran} } @phdthesis {4097, title = {Geophysics, Water Balance, and History of Thick Perennial Ice Covers on Antarctic Lakes}, volume = {Ph.D.}, year = {2014}, school = {University of Illinois}, type = {doctoral}, address = {Chicago, IL}, abstract = {

Antarctic lakes are studied as sentinels of future change, for paleolimnological records contained in the sediments, and as habitats for the simple food webs that can exist in inhospitable environments. Understanding how lakes are formed and are sustained in response to landscape and climate conditions is critical in addressing the aforementioned research themes. This thesis is governed by the overarching hypothesis that an understanding of hydrologic and sediment transport processes associated with lake ice formation and preservation can be used to reveal past climatic changes, and further our awareness of current changes in climate and water balance in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The first chapter focuses on water loss from closed basin lakes in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, and presents updated estimates of sublimation and ablation rates from long-term empirical measurements. The second and third chapters address the formation of Lake Vida, Antarctica. The former investigates the accretion of a 27 m ice cover, and considers the origin of thick sediment layers in the ice cover, and the latter uses two geophysical methods to quantify the extent and volume of the brine network in the subsurface beneath the lake. The results presented herein advance the study of hydrogeology in continuous permafrost, provide additional evidence for fluctuating climate states in the McMurdo Dry Valleys throughout the mid to late Holocene, and provide a case study for the preservation of water in a cold, desert environment analogous to neighboring planets.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, brine, lake ice, McMurdo Dry Valleys, polar lakes, sublimation}, url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10027/19407}, author = {Hilary A. Dugan}, editor = {Peter T. Doran} } @article {1098, title = {Lake ice ablation rates from permanently ice-covered Antarctic lakes}, journal = {Journal of Glaciology}, volume = {59}, year = {2013}, month = {01/2013}, keywords = {LTER-MCM}, author = {Hilary A. Dugan and Maciek K. Obryk and Peter T. Doran} }