What role does stratification play during winter in wind-induced exchange between the multi-depth basins of a large lake (Lake Geneva)?

Abstract

Detailed studies of wind-driven interbasin exchange in lakes, focusing on the underlying driving forces and how they are affected by stratification, are presently lacking. We therefore investigated how stratification modifies wind-induced exchange between the Petit Lac (PL) (depth 75 m) and Grand Lac (GL) (depth 309 m) basins of Lake Geneva in winter, using field observations, 3D hydrodynamic modeling and particle tracking. Early, weakly-stratified (December) and late, fully-mixed (March) winter conditions in the PL were compared for a typical, strong along-axis wind forcing. During early winter, two-layer exchange develops between the basins, with downwind surface outflow into the GL balanced by intense bottom inflow of deep, cold hypolimnetic GL water into the PL which is enhanced by baroclinic pressure gradients caused by upwelling in the GL. Furthermore, the transversal water-level setup generates barotropic pressure gradients that balance Coriolis force acting on the outflow. This produces unidirectional along-wind epilimnion currents that strengthen interbasin exchange. In late winter, with the thermocline deeper than the PL bottom, upwelling in the GL does not reach the confluence and baroclinicity plays no role, resulting in weaker exchange currents with a depth-veering structure in the upper layers due to Coriolis force. In late winter, interbasin exchange decreases by 50 %, is more local, affects only waters near the confluence, and is more horizontal, with no deepwater upwelling from the GL. Our results suggest that prolonged winter stratification due to global warming will make wind-induced hypolimnetic interbasin-upwelling an increasingly important deepwater renewal process in large multi-depth basin lakes.