Origin and size of hypolimnic mixing in Urnersee,the southern basin of Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Lucerne) |
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| Authors: | A Wüest D M Imboden M Schurter |
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| Institution: | (1) Institute of Aquatic Sciences (EAWAG), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland;(2) Present address: Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, 98105 Seattle, WA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Urnersee and Gersauersee are two adjacent basins of Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Lucerne, Switzerland), seperated by a sill of 85 m depth, with similar topography (max. depth 195 and 213 m, respectively) but remarkably different exposure to “external forces”, such as wind and river input. Urnersee is exposed to diurnal winds and to occasional strong storms from the south (Föhn) whereas the wind over Gersauersee is moderate or weak. Two rivers, both having very large discharges during storms, replace the total water volume of Urnersee about once a year; in contrast, no large river flows directly into Gersauersee. Between March and October 1986, meteorological parameters, water temperatures and currents were measured quasi-continuously with the aim to quantify hypolimnic water exchange and mixing in Urnersee and to asses the relative importance of wind mixing versus river-induced water exchange for the renewal of the deep water layers. Three periods could be identified: (1) in April, weak stratification and strong episodic storms exchange about 50% of the deep hypolimnion (DH, defined as layer below 110 m depth) leading to a mean heat flux of 36 Wm2. Because of the large wind mixing the water of the exposed Urnersee below about 20 m depth becomes lighter than in the sheltered Gersauersee. (2) In May and June, the horizontal density gradient causes about 65% renewal of the Urnersee DH by the heavier Gersauersee intermediate water but does not affect the heart content. (3) Simultaneously with these processes are the episodic river floods adding another 20% to the DH water exchange and causing a heat flux of about 6 Wm2. During the rest of the summer, water exchange remains below 10% and is mainly due to episodic flood while wind mixing has little influence. Yet, during floods water input into the DH per unit time can still be very large and heat, fluxes reach 600 Wm2 or more. The influence of lateral density currents between the two adjacent basins on hypolimnic mixing is of great ecological significance and explains the oxygen saturation found in the deep water of Urnersee compared to Gersauersee. |
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