Understanding spatial and temporal variation in lake ice properties by performing a global field campaign (IceBlitz)

The main of this project is to get a mechanistic understanding on spatial and temporal variation in lake ice thickness, crystal structure and impurities by performing global and regional field observations

This new GLEON project was originally discussed during a GLEON meeting in the winter limnology working group, It has the potential to bring us a major step forward towards a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities that a less frozen future will have on nature and society by performing detailed ice property studies. Since lake ice property studies are still comparatively rare, in particular across larger scales, our global approach will open up for the detection of yet unknown ice property changes in a warmer world that are of highest relevance to ice stability and primary production.

In 2020/2021 we performed the first global ice quality sampling campaign. By now (December 2021) we have analysed the data with promising results. These data will soon be published in a review paper on ice quality. At this stage we cannot promise that we will publish more with IceBlitz data so that we put this project into the red phase. There might however coming up new opportunities.