Lakes as Sensitive Indicators of Hydrology, Environment, and Climate

A special issue of Hydrology (ISSN 2306-5338). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Waters and Groundwaters".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 773

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2100, USA
Interests: carbonate petrology; geochemistry; geochronology; isotope geochemistry

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2100, USA
Interests: geology; hydrology; sedimentology; geochronology

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Natural & Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Green Bay, Green Bay, WI 54311, USA
Interests: carbonate petrology; geochemistry; ground water hydrology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lakes are a crucial component of the hydrosphere and a natural laboratory for the study of hydrologic processes. Lakes document hydroclimatic variations at local to regional scales and are highly sensitive indicators of the environment. They provide insights into the hydrologic dynamics of the critical zone and constrain biogeochemical and ecological processes that include nutrient cycling and evolution. Early research into these dynamic systems used physical sedimentology, chemical composition, and basic mineralogy. However, the development of mass spectrometry in the last 70 years laid the foundation for a new research frontier in isotope hydrology, with stable and radioactive isotopes revealing previously unrecognized cogs in hydrologic systems. Further instrumental advances have increased the precision and accuracy of measurements (about x104), unlocking a vast toolkit furnished by natural elements and their isotopes. But these new technological advances have yet to be used to their full potential.

We place this Special Issue within this historical context and suggest that accepted manuscripts showcase novel applications of isotopes that advance our understanding of the hydrology of lakes and their catchments, paleoclimate, and the geochemistry of terrestrial waters. We envision that isotope geochemistry will continue to present an expansive and attractive platform for future research on hydrologic processes that will address long-standing questions and create new streams of knowledge that have direct impacts on our environment, industry, and society.

This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts that link the following themes:

  • Natural and anthropogenic impacts to lacustrine systems;
  • Paleoclimatology or paleolimnology and lake basin evolution;
  • Stable isotopes as tracers;
  • Insights from the long-term monitoring of lake systems;
  • Biogeochemistry of lake systems;
  • Groundwater–lake–river interactions;
  • Modeling of lacustrine systems.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. E. Troy Rasbury
Dr. Guleed Ali
Prof. Dr. John Luczaj
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Hydrology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • modern lakes
  • paleo-lakes
  • climate
  • hydrological cycle
  • water quality
  • geochemistry and geochemical modeling
  • isotope hydrology

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

22 pages, 7460 KiB  
Article
Surface and Subsurface Heatwaves in the Hypersaline Dead Sea Caused by Severe Dust Intrusion
by Pavel Kishcha, Isaac Gertman and Boris Starobinets
Hydrology 2025, 12(5), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology12050114 - 6 May 2025
Viewed by 280
Abstract
The relationship between global warming and heatwaves contributes to environmental risks. We investigate lake heatwaves (LHWs) in the Eastern Mediterranean, where dust intrusions are frequently observed. The dust intrusions are characterized by the arrival of warm air masses containing dust pollution from the [...] Read more.
The relationship between global warming and heatwaves contributes to environmental risks. We investigate lake heatwaves (LHWs) in the Eastern Mediterranean, where dust intrusions are frequently observed. The dust intrusions are characterized by the arrival of warm air masses containing dust pollution from the desert. In saline lakes, LHWs caused by dust intrusions have not been investigated in previous studies. In our study we focus on this point. It was found for the first time that, in the hypersaline Dead Sea, a severe dust intrusion (aerosol optical depth of over 3) caused the formation of LHWs, as appeared in September 2015. At the water surface, the LHWs were represented by abnormally high daily maximal and minimal surface water temperature (SWT) in comparison with their seasonally varied 90th percentile thresholds for 10 consecutive days (7–17 September). The surface LHWs’ intensity was up to 3 °C. Satellite (MODIS-Terra and METEOSAT) SWT did not detect the LHWs. Surface LHWs were accompanied by subsurface LHWs down to a depth of 20 m. The subsurface LHWs lasted longer (16 days) than the surface LHWs (10 days). There was a 4-day delay between the first date of the surface LHWs (7 September) and the start date of the subsurface LHWs (11 September). The maximal intensity of the subsurface LHWs decreased with depth from 1 m (0.6 °C) down to 5 m (0.3 °C), followed by an increase (up to 0.6 °C) at the deeper layers (from 10 m to 20 m). Taking into account that, over the Eastern Mediterranean, desert dust has increased during the past several decades, one can expect frequent occurrence of dust-related intense persistent heatwaves in the Dead Sea in the coming years. This will contribute to additional water heating and further drying up of the Dead Sea. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lakes as Sensitive Indicators of Hydrology, Environment, and Climate)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop