Articles | Volume 24, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2593-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2593-2020
Research article
 | 
18 May 2020
Research article |  | 18 May 2020

Worldwide lake level trends and responses to background climate variation

Benjamin M. Kraemer, Anton Seimon, Rita Adrian, and Peter B. McIntyre

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Cited articles

Aladin, N. V., Plotnikov, I. S., Micklin, P., and Ballatore, T.: Natural Resources and Environmental Issues Aral Sea: Water level, salinity and long-term changes in biological communities of an endangered ecosystem-past, present and future, Nat. Resour. Env. Iss., 15, 177–183, 2009. 
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Benson, L., Linsley, B., Smoot, J., Mensing, S., Lund, S., Stine, S., and Sarna-Wojcicki, A.: Influence of the Pacific decadal oscillation on the climate of the Sierra Nevada, California and Nevada, Quaternary Res., 59, 151–159, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0033-5894(03)00007-3, 2003. 
Benson, L. V., Lund, S. P., Burdett, J. W., Kashgarian, M., Rose, T. P., Smoot, J. P., and Schwartz, M.: Correlation of Late-Pleistocene Lake-Level Oscillations in Mono Lake, California, with North Atlantic Climate Events, Quaternary Res., 49, 1–10, https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.1997.1940, 1998. 
Bintanja, R. and Selten, F. M.: Future increases in Arctic precipitation linked to local evaporation and sea-ice retreat, Nature, 509, 479–482, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13259, 2014. 
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Short summary
Lake levels go up and down due to natural variability in the climate. But the effects of natural variability on lake levels can sometimes be confused for the influence of humans. Here we used long-term data from 200 globally distributed lakes and an advanced statistical approach to show that the effects of natural variability on lake levels can be disentangled from other effects leading to better estimates of long-term changes that may be partially caused by humans.