Part One Abiotic Processes in Lakes

Chapter 1.1 Hydrology of Lakes

ESKO KUUSISTO N D VELI HYVARINEN A
1 . 1 . 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 What is a lake? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.3 Lake classifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.4 Thermal conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4

5
6

1.1.5 Ice conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.6 Climate change and European lakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.1.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7 7 10 10

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Hydrological and Limnological Aspects o Lake Monitoring f Edited by Pertti Heinonen. Giuliano Ziglio and Andre Van der Beken 0 2 0 0 0 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd. ISBN 0 471 89988 7

Hydrology o Lakes f

1.1.1

INTRODUCTION

It has been estimated that there are 12 million lakes on the Earth; their total area is 2.7 million km2, while the total volume is 166 000 km3. The 10 largest in area account for 33% and the 10 largest in volume for as much as 90% of the corresponding world totals. There are almost one and a half million lakes in Europe, if small water bodies with an area down to 0.001 km2 are included. Of these, at least 500 000 natural lakes are larger than 0.01 km2 (Kristensen and Hansen, 1994). Many of them appeared 100O(r15000 years ago, having being formed or reshaped by the last glaciation period, the Weichsel. Most of them are located in northern Europe, the Nordic Countries and the Karelo-Kola part of the Russian Federation, where lakes cover 5-10% of the surface area. Lakes are also common in Iceland, Ireland and in north-western parts of the UK. In central Europe, there are, in addition to high-altitude small lakes, some larger lakes on the margin of the Alps (e.g. Lake Geneva, Lake Garda, Lake Maggiore and Lake Constance), in the Dinarian Alps (the ancient Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespan) and on the Hungarian plain (Lake Balaton and Lake Neusiedler). In countries little affected by the glaciation period, such as Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, southern England, central Germany, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and the central European part of the Russian Federation, natural lakes are few. The total area of European lakes and reservoirs is about 300000km2, of which reservoirs make up almost one third. More than 10 000 major reservoirs have been constructed in Europe. The Volga basin alone has a reservoir area of 38 000 km2 (Mordukhai-Boltovskoi, 1979). The total volume of European lakes is 3300 km3, and that of reservoirs is 800 km3; these figures obviously exclude the Caspian Sea.

1.1.2 WHAT IS A LAKE?

A unique definition of a lake does not exist. Most textbooks on lakes start without actually attempting to define the object that they are going to deal with. From a geological point of view, any workable definition should take into account two distinct parts; namely the basin and the water body. From a hydrological point of view, a lake should be distinguished from a wide river section, i.e. how much must a river widen before one calls the place a lake? The question of the narrowness is very typical, e.g. in some parts of Canada and in the Finnish Lake District. A lake may consist of several basins, separated by short straits. The mean water level in the downstream basins is a

Lake Classijications

few centimetres lower than in the upstream basins. Do we have in this case a single lake or several lakes? The minimum size of a water body which can be called a lake should also be considered. However, let this be a matter to be discussed eternally. In any case, a water body smaller than a lake should be called a pond. Welch (1952) defined a pond as 'a very small, very shallow body of standing water, in which quiet water and extensive occupancy by higher aquatic plants are common characteristics'. It sounds obvious that eutrophication can change a lake into a pond. As a summary, a water body should fill the following requirements in order to be regarded as a lake: (a) it should fill or partially fill a basin or several connected basins; (b) it should have essentially the same water level in all parts, with the exception of relatively short occasions caused by wind, thick ice cover, large inflows, etc.; (c) even if the water body may be located in the immediate vicinity of the sea coast, it does not have a regular intrusion of sea water; (d) the water body should have so small an inflow-to-volume ratio that a considerable portion of suspended sediment is captured; (e) the area of the water body should exceed a specified value, e.g. 1 ha, at mean water level.

1.1.3 LAKE CLASSIFICATIONS

Classifications of lakes have been suggested in order to improve the possibilities of estimating quantitatively the dynamic, thermal and biological processes taking place in such bodies. A detailed genetic classification has already been presented by Hutchinson (1957). Morphometric classifications include a variety of parameters and the subdivision of the lake basins according to their shape. The earliest thermal classification may be that made by Fore1 (1 90 I), who distinguished between polar, sub-polar, temperate and tropical lakes. A more detailed thermal classification was presented by Keller (1974). A water-balance classification of lakes can be based on three simple criteria (Szesztay, 1974): (a) the inflow factor, which can be calculated by using the following expression:

IF = "(IN

+ P)

(1)

where IN = inflow into the lake and P = lake precipitation

Hydrology o Lakes f

(b) The outflow factor, which can be calculated by using the following expression:

OF = OU/(OU

+ E)

(2)

where OU = outflow from the lake and E = lake evaporation (c) The magnitude of the mean annual flux of incoming or outgoing waters. A closed lake obviously has an outflow factor of 0%, while the outflow factor of a throughflow lake is almost 100%. Of the large lakes in the world, Lake Victoria might have the lowest inflow factor, i.e. below 20%. In the large Finnish lakes, inflow factors are typically 7O-9O0h, with outflow factors being slightly higher than this.

1.1.4

THERMAL CONDITIONS

The temperature of water bodies is essentially determined by the radiation balance, i.e. the flux of latent heat and convective heat supply. Higher water temperatures tend to increase evaporation and outgoing radiation, both of which, in turn, have a cooling effect. Moreover, changed runoff dynamics, together with changes in the transport of suspended sediment, can also influence the water temperature. The annual thermal cycle of a moderately deep, temperate lake is characterized by the following important dates: (a) the break-up date, i.e. when a rapid increase of temperature begins as a result of mixing of the water mass due to wind; (b) the date of the maximum mean temperature of the water mass, i.e. when the amount of heat energy stored in the water mass reaches its maximum; (c) the date of the beginning of the autumn homothermy; (d) the date of the water-density maximum, i.e. when the whole water mass has a temperature of 4.0 "C. (e) the freezing date, i.e. when the effect of wind mixing ceases and winter conditions begin; (f) the date of the minimum mean temperature of the water mass, i.e. when the amount of heat energy reaches its minimum. In large Finnish lakes, the date of the maximum mean temperature usually occurs in August, although the deepest layers continue to warm up until the end of September. The autumn hornothermy starts in early October and lasts 3-6 weeks; thereafter, it usually takes 2-3 weeks before the lake freezes. The mean temperature of the water mass by this freezing time is around 1.O "C.

Climate Change and European Lakes

1.1.5 ICE CONDITIONS

Some morphometric parameters have a close connection with the ice conditions of lakes. For lakes of equal area, an early freezing-up is associated with the following characteristics: small mean and maximum depths; small effective fetch; 0 large shore development; 0 large insulosity; 0 direction of major axis perpendicular to the direction of prevailing winds.
0 0

Of the fifty largest lakes in the world, about half are completely or partially covered by ice in winter. Numerous lakes in high latitudes or at high altitudes have an ice-cover season longer than the open-water period. Some lakes in high mountains, in the Arctic islands and in the Antarctic are always covered by ice. There are 50-100 lakes in the world with freezing and breakup data series which are over a century long. In Finland, the longest series is from Lake Kallavesi, where the observations first started in the autumn of 1833. Since that time, both freezing and breakup dates have shifted by about two weeks towards a milder climate.

1.1.6

CLIMATE CHANGE AND EUROPEAN LAKES

Aquatic ecosystems are excellent integrators of changes in climate and catchment conditions. The results of the complex interplay between climate, vegetation and soil will be summarized in streams and lakes, and further on in marine ecosystems. In lakes with minor catchment areas, the direct effects of changed climate and atmospheric deposition control the future development. Water quality changes are largely determined by changes in leaching. In acid-sensitive lakes, the increased nitrogen leaching might disturb the positive development started as a result of reductions in sulfur emission. In agriculturally loaded lakes, an increase in the primary production of phytoplankton is likely due to a longer growing season, higher nutrient loads and higher C 0 2 concentrations. Changes in population and community structure of the aquatic biota are also likely to occur. In areas with high lake densities, the position within the catchment area can strongly influence the response of individual lakes to climate shifts, thus leading to divergence in biogeochemical patterns of change across a region (Webster et af., 1996). The response of European lakes to climate change can be discussed by dividing the lakes into four categories.

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1.1.6.1 Deep, temperate lakes

Hydrology o Lakes f

Typical representatives of this group are, e.g. Lakes Maggiore (Italy), Geneva (Switzerland/France), Ness (Scotland) and Constance (Germany/Switzerland/ Austria) with mean depths of 177,153, 132 and 90 m, respectively. Due to these great depths and relatively mild winters, there is usually no ice cover. Most of these lakes are warm monomictic (one turnover), while the deepest ones are warm oligomictic (irregular and seldom). Convective overturn occurs in winter or early spring. In some lakes, there is a correlation between annual air temperature and the temperature of the hypolimnion; in this case the lake can even be used as a filtered indicator of climatic change or variations (Livingstone, 1993). The future climate change may suppress the turnover in deep monomictic lakes, thus giving them the classification of oligomictic. This implies the enhancement of anoxic bottom conditions and an increased risk of eutrophication. The oxygen conditions can also be expected to deteriorate due to increased bacterial activity in deep waters and surficial bottom sediment. Although many of these lakes have a long residence time, the role of increased evaporation in concentrating nutrients in the water mass is relatively small. Changes in catchment conditions will be more important. The maritime lakes in this group (particularly in the UK and Ireland) are strongly influenced by cyclones coming from the Atlantic. The increased power of these weather phenomena could affect the stratification, and consequently the biological conditions in these lakes. Moreover, a correlation between the average summer biomass of zooplankton and the position of the Gulf Stream has been found in UK lakes (George and Taylor, 1995).
1.1.6.2 Shallow, temperate lakes

Lake Balaton (596km2, 3m) in Hungary, Lake Shkodra (368km2, 8m) in Albania and Lake Miiritz (1 14km2, 8m) in Germany are typical examples of this group. High water temperatures will result in intensified primary production and bacterial decomposition. The probability of harmful extreme events, e.g. mass production of algae, will increase. The impacts may extend to fish life; with changes in species composition and reduced fish catches being anticipated. The use of the expression thermal pollution is well justified for these lakes. In lakes with relatively long retention times, increased evaporation causes conservative solutes to concentrate. This effect may be enhanced by decreased annual inflows in southern Europe and east European lowlands. For Lake Balaton, Szilagyi and Somlyody (1991) estimated that the increased dissociation of inorganic carbon will probably be a more important contributor to acidification and to ionic composition than acid deposition.

Climate Change and European Lakes

Doubling the atmospheric C 0 2 concentration would result in a decrease of the pH value by 0.2, and would cause a significant increase in the salt content and hardness of the lake water. 1.1.6.3 Boreal lakes

Lake Ladoga (Russia) (17 670km2, 51 m), Lake Onega (Russia) (9670 km2, 30 m) and Lake Vanern (Sweden) (5670 km2, 27 m) are the largest lakes in this group, with these also being the three largest lakes in Europe. This group includes about 120 lakes with an area exceeding 100 km2. Most lakes of the boreal zone are dimictic with two overturns in a year. Shortening of the ice cover period is the most obvious consequence of climate change in these lakes (Huttula et al., 1996). This could improve the oxygen conditions in winter and spring. A longer ice-free period might also result in increased turbidity due to erosion from exposed land surfaces. A longer and stronger summer stratification might have harmful effects on water quality in the hypolimnion. This will obviously depend on future wind speeds, which nobody is yet willing to predict. A simulation of Lake Ladoga by Meyer et al. (1994) in a 2 x C02-climate scenario resulted in the following changes: (a) No ice cover was formed. In this century, a complete ice cover has occurred in Lake Ladoga in about 80% of winters. The lack of ice cover may stimulate fog formation. The lakes biota, presently including a number of unique species, might also be affected by the absence of ice cover. (b) The lake will remain dimictic. Intensive cooling during winter will lead to inverse stratification in March and April. (c) Summer stratified conditions seem to be preserved as at present. Convective mixing can potentially have more significant consequences due to the longer duration of overturn periods.
1.1.6.4

Mountain and arctic lakes

These are mainly small water bodies in central European and Scandinavian mountains and in the Arctic. The lakes in this group are generally considered to be particularly sensitive to environmental changes. They usually have small catchments with limited chemical and biological erosion, and their simple and labile ecosystems react quickly to environmental stress and changes. Many lakes are ultraoligotrophic; the ice cover season is long. A small mountain lake can be biologically very isolated. It closely reflects the statement of one of the fathers of limnology, S . T. Forbes, from the year 1887 (Hutchinson, 1957):

10

Hydrology o Lakes f
It forms a little world within itself - a microcosm within which all the elemental forces are at work and the play of life goes on in full, but on so small a scale as to bring it easily within the mental grasp.

Even if mountain lakes are connected by channels, physical and ecological constraints limit species migration between them. In a warming climate, there is no escape route; the only possibility for survival is adaptation. In the Arctic, melting permafrost may fatally threaten lake ecosystems. In some cases, it may threaten the whole existence of the lake, i.e. ground thaw together with enhanced evaporation may cause the lake to disappear. One risk in mountain lakes may be the future enhancement of UV-B radiation. As a function of altitude, this component increases by 20% per 1000 m (Blumthaler and Rehwald, 1992). Transparent water tends to maximize the UV-B dose to aquatic alpine organisms.

1.1.7 CONCLUSIONS
Knowledge of the hydrology of lakes is essential for their proper use and conservation. Water quality is closely linked to the water and energy budgets, mixing, stratification and other physical aspects of lakes. Without a morphometric description of a lake, the quantitative analysis of the thermal and biological processes is impossible. If a lake has an ice cover in winter, a completely different approach to the analysis of heat budget and dynamic processes is needed. On the geological time scale, lakes are transitory features on the Earths surface. Their life expectancies may vary from a short spell between two floods to millions of years. The variation of water levels or the rate of sedimentation are indicators of the future development of a lake. Particularly interesting are closed lakes - these are laboratories for the study of basic climatic, hydrological and geological phenomena. Considerable progress has been made in the modelling of lake hydrodynamics in recent decades. However, the complexity of water motions in lakes still hinders a detailed analysis, and simplified strategies have to be applied. Long hydrological data series of lakes have gained in importance with increasing evidence of climate change, with the latter having essential effects on lakes in many regions of the world. In high latitudes, the shortening of the icecover period will be the most obvious consequence. In addition, increased water temperatures may result in intensified primary production and harmful changes in water quality.

REFERENCES
Blumthaler, M. and Rehwald, W., 1992. Solar UV-A and UV-B radiation fluxes at two alpine stations at different altitudes, Theor. Appl. Climntnl., 46,39-44.

References

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Forel. F. A., 1901. Handbook der Seenkunde, Verlag von J. Engelhorn, Stuttgart. George, D. and Taylor, A,, 1995. UK lake plankton and the Gulf Stream, Nature (Londonj , 378. 139. Hutchinson, G . E., 1957. A Treatise on Limnology, Vol. I , Wiley, New York. Huttula, T., Peltonen, A. and Kaipainen, H., 1996. Effects of Climatic Changes on Ice Conditions and Temperature Regime in Finnish Lakes, The Final Report of SILMU, 4/96, Helsinki, Finland, Academy of Finland, 167-172. Keller, R., 1974. Physico-geography - object and problem of research, IAHS Bull., 19, 63-7 I . Livingstone, D., 1993. Temporal structure in the deep-wat r temperature of four Swiss lakes: A short-term climatic change indicator?, Verh. In . Verein. Limnol., 25, 75-8 I . Kristensen, P. and Hansen, H. 0. (Eds), 1994. European Rivers and Lakes: Assessment of their Environmental State, EEA Environmental Monographs 1, European Environment Agency, Silkeborg, Denmark. Meyer, G., Masliev, I. and Somlyody, L., 1994. Impact of Climate Change on Global Sensitivity of Lake Stratification, IIASA Report, WP-94-28. Mordukhai-Boltovskoi, D., 1979. The River Volga and its Life, D r W. Junk, The Hague. Szesztay, K., 1974. Water balance and water level fluctuations of lakes, IAHS Bull. 19, 73-84. Szilagyi, F. and Somlyody, L., 1991. Potential impact of climatic changes on water quality in lakes, IAHS Publ., 206, 79-86. Webster, K . , Kratz, T., Bowser, C. and Magnuson, J., 1996. The influence of landscape position on lake chemical responses to drought in northern Wisconsin, Limnol. Oceanogr. 41, 977-984. Welch, P. S . , 1952. Limnology, McGraw-Hill, New York.