Thermal Structure of Water During the Summer in Lakes of the Polish Lowlands as a Result of their Varied Morphometry

Abstract

Abstract The paper discusses the impact of lake morphometric parameters on the thermal structure of water during the period of summer stagnation. The summer period in the lakes is characterized by clearly expressed properties of the thermal structure of water, differentiating lakes from one another. The study was carried out on 141 lakes in northern Poland, for which at least 3 vertical water temperature measurements were taken in different years. They showed a significant influence of lake basin morphometry upon the thermal structure of water in lakes. In general, measurements of the vertical distribution of water temperature showed clear diversity, and depending on the depth also thermal layers (epi-, meta- and hypolimnion). The results of the analysis of 8 lake morphometric parameters and 10 thermal stratification parameters revealed the existence of significant dependencies between them. The best-preserved relations (statistically significant) occurred between the parameters characterizing the lake depth and meta- and hypolimnion properties, as well as the thermal stratification factor and heat content in a unit of volume.