Intensified Warming and Aridity Accelerate Terminal Lake Desiccation in the Great Basin of the Western United States

Abstract

A terminal lake has no outlets, losing water only through evaporation or groundwater seepage. Terminal lakes have been shrinking worldwide, and water levels have declined in at least the last 100+ years, primarily due to increasing societal water demand exacerbated by periodic droughts, lake and groundwater extraction, and climate change (Wurtsbaugh et al., 2017). In the western United States lakes have been losing water and shrinking dramatically, especially since the current drought began around the year 1999 (Piechota et al., 2011).In the Great Basin (GB) of the western US, streamflow from snowmelt in the mountains is the main inflow to the terminal lakes which are typically shallow and have a large surface area. The amount of water flow into the

Fish Diversity and Use of Nearshore and Open‐Water Habitats in Terminal Lakes

“…Additionally, because sediment focusing generally leads to the accumulation of coarse sediments near the shore and fine particles in deeper habitats (Jones and Smol 2023), lake level declines may prevent fish populations from accessing habitats offered by coarse sediments. Because terminal lakes are declining globally due to consumptive water use and climatic factors (Wurtsbaugh et al 2017;Wang et al 2018;Hall et al 2023), further studies of how terminal lake decline affects near-shore fishes are warranted.…”

“…For instance, water consumption and extraction plays a greater role than even climate change in influencing lake level variation in terminal lakes (Wurtsbaugh et al 2017). Furthermore, higher air and surface temperatures and reduced snowpacks can lead to the desiccation of terminal lakes (Hall et al 2023). Additionally, lethal salinity increases have been noted in several terminal lakes (e.g., the Aral Sea, Walker Lake), and an understanding of how these increases affect fish communities at a global scale is lacking.…”

Assessment of Potential Accumulation of Trifluoroacetate in Terminal Lakes

“…Two potential sites, namely, Tule Lake and Goose Lake, were dry when visited and Abert Lake was close to drying up. Many of the remaining lakes were at relatively low water levels compared to historical levels (e.g., Walker Lake, 28 Mono and Abert Lakes; 29 Salton Sea; 30 and Eagle Lake 31 ). The lower volumes in the lakes might result in somewhat higher concentrations of the PFCAs relative to those under more normal conditions.…”

Snowfall Replenishes Groundwater Loss in the Great Basin of the Western United States, but Cannot Compensate for Increasing Aridification

“…TWS was calculated from the CMWE data (Equation S1 in Supporting Information S1). The GSFC highresolution trend mascon data may be found in a Zenodo data repository (Hall & DiGirolamo, 2024). Additionally, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) RL06/1v03 (JPL, 2024), and Center for Space Research (CSR), RL06.2 (CSR, 2024) monthly mascon trend data were also plotted.…”

“…Elevated temperatures have led to reduced snowfall, fewer days of snow cover, lower soil moisture, more wildfires, tree loss (Abatzoglou & Williams, 2016;Yi et al, 2022), general aridification (Overpeck & Udall, 2020), and reduced water levels in lakes and reservoirs (Yao et al, 2023;Zhao et al, 2022) necessitating greater use of groundwater for agricultural and other needs (Famiglietti et al, 2011). The drought has accelerated desiccation of terminal lakes in the Great Basin (GB), with "toxic dust" from expanding lakebeds contributing to air pollution during windstorms (Hall et al, 2021(Hall et al, , 2023Larson, 2024;Larson et al, 2016;Wurtsbaugh et al, 2017).…”