Climatic effects on regime shifts in lakes : a reply

In a recent study (Scheffer et al. 2001) we showed that spring and summer temperatures of a Dutch lake are strongly correlated to the NAO index of the previous winter and that the timing of clear-water phases in The Netherlands and Central Europe is also correlated to this climatic oscillation. Although this created no dispute, another more counterintuitive result of our analysis raised doubts (Jeppesen et al. 2003; Van Donk et al. 2003): we found that the probability for a spring clear-water phase in Dutch lakes was higher after winters with a higher NAO index, suggesting a positive effect of... Mehr ...