U.S. researchers say warmer water and higher wind speeds have
contributed to Lake Superior's near record low-water levels. In
the last 25 years, water temperatures on the lake have risen
twice as fast as air temperatures, while wind speeds have
increased by 30 percent, researcher Jay Austin, of the
University of Minnesota-Duluth, told a Great Lakes conference
Friday in Toronto. Lakes Huron and Michigan, just inches above
record lows, have been experiencing the same phenomenon, the
Detroit Free Press reported Saturday. "What we are finding is
completely counter-intuitive," Austin said. "You would expect
that a bigger lake like (Superior) would react more slowly to
global warming." But just the opposite is happening, he said,
probably because Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater
lake, has so much more surface area to absorb heat. Lake
Superior has warmed about 3 degrees Celsius since 1900, mostly
in recent decades, Austin said. Copyright 2007 by United Press
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