Spring and Early Summer Temperatures in a Shallow Arctic Pond

Abstract

Temperatures were recorded continuously during spring and early summer in a shallow pond on Bathurst Island in the High Arctic; thawing was rapid. After the thaw, seasonal and diel differences within the water and mud showed that frozen substrate had a marked effect on mud temperature, but that the superficial mud received almost as much heat as the water immediately above it. Temperature summations suggested that even in favourable shallow habitats low mud temperatures dictate the life-cycles of more than one year of arctic chironomids. The maximum-minimum temperature midpoint was a satisfactory substitute for a recorder-obtained day-mean, and seasonal comparisons of pond temperatures in relation to bottom fauna could therefore be based on daily maximum and minimum mud surface temperatures.