Lake Ontario ice coverage: Past, present and future

Lake Ontario ice conditions are statistically linked to regional temperatures recorded in Toronto, during the most recent climate normal (1980/81-2009/10). A metric was developed to capture the net melting effect of average winter temperatures to characterize lake ice conditions, referred to as Net Melting-Degree Days (NMDD). This metric was able to account for 78% of lake ice interannual variability (R-2 = 0.783, P < 0.001). Based on NMDD parameters, current lake ice conditions were characterized in four ways: heavy, moderate, light and very light. Lake Ontario ice conditions were reconstructed to create a hindcast for the span of the instrumental temperature record (1840/41-1979/80). Based on a decadal analysis, heavy ice seasons decreased significantly (R-2 = 0.658, P < 0.001) from the 1840s to the 2000s, declining from an average of 6 heavy ice seasons per decade during the most distant climate normal (1840s to 1960s) to an average of only 1 heavy ice season per decade during the most recent climate normal (1980s to 2000s). Finally, lake ice conditions are projected to the end of the 21st century, using an optimal ensemble of Global Climate Model outputs for two different climate change scenarios (RCP4.5, RCP8.5). Heavy ice seasons no longer occur as early as the 2050s under both RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Whereas, very light ice seasons go from being an extreme in the baseline period (10%), to the dominant characterization of Lake Ontario ice conditions by the 2080s, for both RCP4.5 (73%) and RCP8.5 (100%). (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Association for Great Lakes Research.