Winter inverse lake stratification under historic and future climate change

Millions of lakes inversely stratify during winter. Seemingly subtle variations in the duration winter stratification can have major ecological effects by, for example, altering vertical distribution oxygen and nutrients lakes. Yet, influence climate change on has been largely unexplored. To fill this knowledge gap, here we used a lake-climate model ensemble to investigate changes from 1901 2099 across 12,242 representative situated throughout Northern Hemisphere. By end 21st century, is projected shorten by an average 18.5–53.9 d under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 2.6–8.5. Projected are faster warmer geographical regions, which 35–69% will no longer 2070–2099 RCPs This shortening loss likely numerous implications lakes, including misalignment lifecycle events causing shifts biodiversity.