Abstract
As the fifth largest freshwater lake in China, Lake Chaohu has drawn increasing attention due to the decline in water quality and the occurrence of massive algal blooms. We applied an algae pixel-growing algorithm to MODIS Terra or Aqua data (2100 images) to characterize surface floating algae bloom dynamics from 2000 to 2013 with respect to meteorological and lake nutrient conditions. The results show an increase in surface algal bloom coverage, frequency, and duration with a trend toward earlier bloom formation. Importantly, spatial and temporal patterns in the historically less compromised eastern and middle lake areas show that water quality conditions are deteriorating. This has occurred at the same time as lake management has made a catchment scale effort to reduce impact. Our results show that nutrient concentrations were not the main driver of inter-annual bloom variations. Local meteorological conditions, in particular wind speed and temperature, played an important role in the dynamics of floating algal bloom. This highlights the important challenges for lake management.
Highlights
The eutrophication of freshwater water bodies has become a global environmental challenge [1,2].Freshwater lakes provide fundamental ecological services, including water supply, fisheries, and flood mitigation [3,4]
The accumulation of sub-pixel floating algal bloom area was used to estimate floating algal bloom-covered area
The monthly maximum bloom area demonstrated a clear increase in bloom area over the study period, especially for the central lake and east lake sections
Summary
The eutrophication of freshwater water bodies has become a global environmental challenge [1,2].Freshwater lakes provide fundamental ecological services, including water supply, fisheries, and flood mitigation [3,4]. The eutrophication of freshwater water bodies has become a global environmental challenge [1,2]. Following three decades of rapid economic development, eutrophication has become the most important water quality problem in China. A recent investigation in 2013 from the China State. Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) indicated that 57.4% of lakes surveyed were eutrophic, with an additional 27.8% in a hypereutrophic state. Of the six largest freshwater lakes in China, all but Lake. Poyang and Lake Dongting were identified as eutrophic [5]. In these four lakes, massive algal blooms have limited the availability of fresh water to the surrounding population [6,7,8]
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