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Oxygen patchiness in a lake

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Abstract

The presence and extent of small scale vertical structure in dissolved oxygen were investigated in a tropical Australian lake. At a 9 m deep site an extremely high oxygen patch appeared near the bottom boundary. Light levels reaching the bottom boundary during the life of the patch exceeded 10 µEinst m−2 s−1. The patch remained for 1.5 h before gradually reaching ambient oxygen levels. The patch's disappearance coincided with decreasing light levels during the late afternoon. Differences in the extent of oxygen vertical patchiness between deep (16 m) and shallow (9 m) sites were also observed. At the deep site, the distribution of oxygen steps over the water column coincided largely with the distribution of temperature steps. This indicates the dominance of physical processes at that site. At the shallow site, marked vertical patchiness in oxygen was observed with no similar patchiness in temperature. This indicates the prevalence of biological and chemical processes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Water Research, Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Western Australia, 6907, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia

    Carolyn Oldham & Jörg Imberger

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  1. Carolyn Oldham
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  2. Jörg Imberger
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Oldham, C., Imberger, J. Oxygen patchiness in a lake. Aquatic Science 57, 325–337 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00878396

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00878396

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