Global warming: Local lake reveals clues

The core sample taken from Lake Hemlock could reveal to Chaisson and his colleagues the impact of climate changes.

esearchers from the University and from SUNY Brockport have collected a sediment core from the bottom of Hemlock Lake, the principal source of the city of Rochester's water, in the hopes of shedding some light on how the water supply may fare if the greenhouse effect continues to warm the globe.

Bill Chaisson, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, led the team that recovered a 32-centimeter core from the lake bed. The core contained sediment that accumulated over the past 130 years, allowing the researchers to extract paleontological and geophysical data and compare it to the weather reports in the Democrat and Chronicle back to 1870. The correlation was strong enough to spur the team to look into a second phase of the project--examining the lake sediment changes over the last several thousand years.

"The primary objective is to determine the relationship between lake water quality and climate," explains Chaisson.

The team plans to look further back into Hemlock Lake's history. There is evidence that the climate was quite warm and dry in western New York about 7,000 years ago. Chaisson and his team are now investigating what impact that sustained heat wave had on Hemlock and other lakes in the area.

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