A large number of studies continue to utilize air temperature measurements over the land and bulk water temperature measurements over the oceans to measure surface temperature change. More recently satellite data have been used to measure ocean surface temperatures. These same technologies can be used to measure the surface temperature of inland waters (lakes). We have used these data to measure lake surface temperature change for 169 of the worlds largest lakes and  268 large lakes in North America. 

This site provides access to satellite derived surface temperatures for the 169 of the worlds largest lakes as well as some recent publications on the topic of lake temperatures. The methodology used to obtain the surface temperatures is given in: 

Schneider, P and S. J. Hook, 2010. Space observations of inland water bodies show rapid surface warming since 1985. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol.: 37, Number: L22405.