Field study on currents in a shallow, ice‐covered lake

Abstract

A field study on current structure and circulation characteristics in Lake Vendyurskoe, a small, shallow, icecovered lake in Karelia, Russia, is presented. The current velocity magnitudes were generally found to be small. The most pronounced currents had an oscillating character, with velocity amplitudes on the order of millimeters per second. The oscillation period, obtained from spectral density calculations, corresponded to that of a barotropic uninodal seiche. The seichelike nature of the current oscillations was supported by the results from analysis of icelevel fluctuations, giving identical periods and a phase shift of one‐fourth the period between the two types of oscillations.Mean currents measured during the winter were on the order of millimeters per second. Because Lake Vendyurskoe does not have any significant river inflow or outflow during winter, the most probable cause of these currents is horizontal temperature (pressure) gradients. Scaling analysis indicated that these currents are geostrophic. This was supported by theoretical estimates, based on observed horizontal temperature gradients, being of the same order as the observed currents. The mean current velocities increased considerably after spring convection from <1 to several millimeters per second.