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Changes in acidity, DOC, and water clarity of Adirondack lakes over a 30-year span

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Abstract

Lake surveys conducted in 1987–88 and 2018–19 show changes in the chemical and optical properties of Adirondack lakes recovering from acidification. Among chronically acidified lakes (1980s pH < 5.5, ANC < 0 µeq L−1), increases in pH and reductions in monomeric Al were accompanied by significant increases in light attenuation, DOC, and CDOM. DOC-specific dissolved color (CDOM:DOC) doubled over the 30-year span, and is the likely factor accounting for loss of water clarity in Adirondack lakes during recovery from acidification. Monitoring data (1994–2002) from a subset of these lakes show that reductions in light attenuation were accompanied by stronger thermal stratification and greater hypolimnetic oxygen depletion. Lakes most affected by acidification experienced greater loss of water clarity during recovery relative to moderately acidified lakes. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that lake acidification resulted in a reduction in light attenuation by CDOM resulting in greater water clarity in acidified lakes, and that this process has been reversed following regional declines in sulfate deposition.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Rachel Henderson for her assistance with the GAM analysis. I thank those who facilitated lake access: Camp Gorham YMCA, Stacy McNulty (SUNY ESF Huntington Forest), Beth Pashley, Cliff and Ellie Reed Lewis, and David Smith (NYS DEC). I am also indebted to colleagues at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who collected and shared the AEAP data. This paper is dedicated to Donald R. Whitehead, a friend and mentor who encouraged my work on Adirondack lakes. Don’s research in paleolimnology advanced our understanding of post-glacial forest history; his summer field courses introduced students to the beauty and wonder of the Adirondacks.

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  1. Center for Environmental Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1000 West Cary Street, Richmond, VA, 23284, USA

    Paul A. Bukaveckas

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Bukaveckas, P.A. Changes in acidity, DOC, and water clarity of Adirondack lakes over a 30-year span. Aquat Sci 83, 50 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-021-00807-6

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