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1. Ice thickness regulates heat flux in permanently ice‐covered lakes

   https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.70151  

   Dugan, Hilary A; Obryk, Maciej K; Gooseff, Michael N; Doran, Peter T; Chiuchiolo, Amy L; Lawrence, Jade P; Priscu, John C (September 2025, Limnology and Oceanography)

   Abstract The permanently ice‐covered lakes of Taylor Valley, Antarctica, are rare ecosystems where permanent ice cover and year‐round vertically stable water columns provide critical redox zones for cold‐adapted microorganisms. Using 30 yr of limnological data from the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long‐Term Ecological Research program, we assessed the water column heat flux of four permanently ice‐covered lakes in the context of global lake ice decline and lake warming. Our study reveals that heat flux in Taylor Valley lakes is driven by ice cover dynamics, both annual changes in ice thickness as well as overall ice thickness. During periods of ice thinning, like those observed from 2020 to 2023, the lakes accumulate heat. Lake Fryxell, Lake Hoare, and West Lake Bonney have repeatedly cooled and warmed over our record, with only East Lake Bonney cooling due to lake level rise. Ice thickness is largely synchronous among the four lakes, with periods of asynchronicity likely caused by lake‐specific changes in surface albedo driven by changes in optical properties of the ice covers and in‐ice sediment dynamics. 

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2. A New Thermal Categorization of Ice‐Covered Lakes

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091374  

   Yang, Bernard; Wells, Mathew G.; McMeans, Bailey C.; Dugan, Hilary A.; Rusak, James A.; Weyhenmeyer, Gesa A.; Brentrup, Jennifer A.; Hrycik, Allison R.; Laas, Alo; Pilla, Rachel M.; et al (February 2021, Geophysical Research Letters)

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3. Inorganic carbon fixation in ice-covered lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102019000075  

   Vick-Majors, Trista J.; Priscu, John C. (June 2019, Antarctic Science)

   Abstract Inorganic carbon fixation, usually mediated by photosynthetic microorganisms, is considered to form the base of the food chain in aquatic ecosystems. In high-latitude lakes, lack of sunlight owing to seasonal solar radiation limits the activity of photosynthetic plankton during the polar winter, causing respiration-driven demand for carbon to exceed supply. Here, we show that inorganic carbon fixation in the dark, driven by organisms that gain energy from chemical reactions rather than sunlight (chemolithoautotrophs), provides a significant influx of fixed carbon to two permanently ice-covered lakes (Fryxell and East Bonney). Fryxell, which has higher biomass per unit volume of water, had higher rates of inorganic dark carbon fixation by chemolithoautotrophs than East Bonney (trophogenic zone average 1.0 µg C l −1 d −1 vs 0.08 µg C l −1 d −1 , respectively). This contribution from dark carbon fixation was partly due to the activity of ammonia oxidizers, which are present in both lakes. Despite the potential importance of new carbon input by chemolithoautotrophic activity, both lakes remain net heterotrophic, with respiratory demand for carbon exceeding supply. Dark carbon fixation increased the ratio of new carbon supply to respiratory demand from 0.16 to 0.47 in Fryxell, and from 0.14 to 0.22 in East Bonney. 

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4. Projected phenological shifts in stratification and overturning of ice-covered Northern Hemisphere lakes

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01953-z  

   Huang, Lei; Woolway, R Iestyn; Timmermann, Axel; Rodgers, Keith B (December 2024, Communications Earth & Environment)
5. In a PICL: The sedimentary deposits and facies of perennially ice-covered lakes

   https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12522  

   Rivera-Hernandez, Frances; Sumner, Dawn Y.; Mackey, Tyler J.; Hawes, Ian; Andersen, Dale T.; Girardclos, Stéphanie (April 2019, Sedimentology)