Global warming and the associated longer dry periods and more frequent heavy rainfall events are having a noticeable impact on the water balance of lakes and wetlands in Germany and Europe. This leads to additional stress factors for aquatic ecosystems and their biodiversity and increasingly highlights conflicts in water use.

An ecological distopia and an outlook for all Europe ? The Greek Volvi Lake dried up completely in 2019.

Against this background, the current flash study "Lakes and Climate Change" highlights the available research findings on the impacts of climate change - and the associated changes in temperatures, precipitation amounts and distributions - on lakes, small water bodies and wetlands in Germany, also incorporating findings from other European countries.

BfN Schriften 624 - Blitzlichtstudie "Seen und Klimawandel"

Udo Gattenlöhner, Michael Bender und Marlene Bär Lamas

BfN-Schriften

2022

The long version of the study is available to download here (in German): www.grueneliga.de/images/Dokumente/Skript624.pdf

You can find a summary of the BfN Study here (English):

www.grueneliga.de/images/Dokumente/Wasser/EN_KLIMA_SEEN_SUM_22_04_27.pdf