Alo Laas

First Experiences in Mapping Lake Water Quality Parameters with Sentinel-2 MSI Imagery

The importance of lakes and reservoirs leads to the high need for monitoring lake water quality both at local and global scales. The aim of the study was to test suitability of Sentinel-2 Multispectral Imager’s (MSI) data for mapping different lake water quality parameters. In situ data of chlorophyll a (Chl a), water color, colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from nine small and two large lakes were compared with band ratio algorithms derived from Sentinel-2 Level-1C and atmospherically corrected (Sen2cor) Level-2A images. The height of the 705 nm peak was used for estimating Chl a. The suitability of the commonly used green to red band ratio was tested for estimating the CDOM, DOC and water color. Concurrent reflectance measurements were not available. Therefore, we were not able to validate the performance of Sen2cor atmospheric correction available in the Sentinel-2 Toolbox. The shape and magnitude of water reflectance were consistent with our field measurements from previous years. However, the atmospheric correction reduced the correlation between the band ratio algorithms and water quality parameters indicating the need in better atmospheric correction. We were able to show that there is good correlation between band ratio algorithms calculated from Sentinel-2 MSI data and lake water parameters like Chl a (R2 = 0.83), CDOM (R2 = 0.72) and DOC (R2 = 0.92) concentrations as well as water color (R2 = 0.52). The in situ dataset was limited in number, but covered a reasonably wide range of optical water properties. These preliminary results allow us to assume that Sentinel-2 will be a valuable tool for lake monitoring and research, especially taking into account that the data will be available routinely for many years, the imagery will be frequent, and free of charge.

Climate-related changes of phytoplankton seasonality in large shallow Lake Võrtsjärv, Estonia

Water level changes (7-year moving averages) in Lake Võrtsjärv (Estonia) during 1885–2000 were correlated with winter patterns in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. In this shallow lake (270 km2, mean depth 2.8 m), where the annual water level amplitude is 1.4 m and the absolute range is 3.2 m, hydrology is the main driving force for the ecosystem. Control of phytoplankton growth was mediated by ice conditions in spring, and by water level in summer and autumn. Winter air temperature similarly influenced the biomass of cyanobacteria and diatoms in spring; while the effect of the ice-cover duration was more pronounced on cyanobacteria. Mean depth of the lake did not affect the phytoplankton biomass in spring, but clearly controlled it in summer and autumn. The direct impact of winter conditions on biological processes was restricted to a short post-winter period, but extended indirectly as the water level for the entire growing season depended strongly on the height of the spring flood peak.

Role of a productive lake in carbon sequestration within a calcareous catchment

For a long time, lakes were considered unimportant in the global carbon (C) cycle because of their small total area compared to the ocean. Over the last two decades, a number of studies have highlighted the important role of lakes in both sequestering atmospheric C and modifying the C flux from the catchment by degassing CO2 and methane and burying calcite and organic matter in the sediment. Based on a full C mass balance, high frequency measurements of lake metabolism and stable isotope analysis of a large shallow eutrophic lake in Estonia, we assess the role alkaline lakes play in augmenting the strength of terrestrial carbonate weathering as a temporary CO2 sink. We show that a large part of organic C buried in the sediments in this type of lakes originates from the catchment although a direct uptake from the atmosphere during periods of intensive phytoplankton growth in eutrophic conditions contributes to the carbon sink.

From bacteria to piscivorous fish: estimates of whole-lake and component-specific metabolism with an ecosystem approach.

The influence of functional group specific production and respiration patterns on a lakes metabolic balance remains poorly investigated to date compared to whole-system estimates of metabolism. We employed a summed component ecosystem approach for assessing lake-wide and functional group-specific metabolism (gross primary production (GPP) and respiration (R)) in shallow and eutrophic Lake Võrtsjärv in central Estonia during three years. Eleven functional groups were considered: piscivorous and benthivorous fish; phyto-, bacterio-, proto- and metazooplankton; benthic macroinvertebrates, bacteria and ciliates; macrophytes and their associated epiphytes. Metabolism of these groups was assessed by allometric equations coupled with daily records of temperature and hydrology of the lake and measurements of food web functional groups biomass. Results revealed that heterotrophy dominated most of the year, with a short autotrophic period observed in late spring. Most of the metabolism of the lake could be attributed to planktonic functional groups, with phytoplankton contributing the highest share (90% of GPP and 43% of R). A surge of protozooplankton and bacterioplankton populations forming the microbial loop caused the shift from auto- to heterotrophy in midsummer. Conversely, the benthic functional groups had overall a very small contribution to lake metabolism. We validated our ecosystem approach by comparing the GPP and R with those calculated from O2 measurements in the lake. Our findings are also in line with earlier productivity studies made with 14C or chlorophyll a (chl-a) based equations. Ideally, the ecosystem approach should be combined with diel O2 approach for investigating critical periods of metabolism shifts caused by dynamics in food-web processes.

Latitude and lake size are important predictors of over‐lake atmospheric stability

Turbulent fluxes across the air-water interface are integral to determining lake heat budgets, evaporation, and carbon emissions from lakes. The stability of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) in ...

Numerical Exploration of the Planktonic to Benthic Primary Production Ratios in Lakes of the Baltic Sea Catchment

Autotrophic structure refers to the partitioning of whole-ecosystem primary production between benthic and planktonic primary producers. Autotrophic structure remains poorly understood especially because of the paucity of estimates regarding benthic primary production. We used a conceptual model for numerically exploring the autotrophic structure of 13 hemiboreal lakes situated in the Baltic Sea catchment. We also used diel variations in primary production profiles to graphically evaluate levels of light and/or nutrient limitation in lakes. The input morphometric data, light extinction coefficients and dissolved carbon parameters were mostly obtained from in situ measurements. Results revealed that cross- and within-lake autotrophic structure varied greatly: one lake was clearly dominated by benthic production, and three lakes by phytoplankton production. In the rest, phytoplankton production was generally dominant but switch to benthic dominance was possible. The modelled primary production profiles varied according to lake water clarity and bathymetry. Our results clearly indicate that the relative contribution of benthic primary production to whole-lake primary production should be taken into account in studies about hemiboreal and boreal lakes.

An estimation of diel metabolic rates of eight limnological archetypes from Estonia using high-frequency measurements

Abstract We employed a Bayesian model to assess the metabolic state of 8 Estonian lakes representing the 8 lake types according to the European Union Water Framework Directive. We hypothesized that long-term averages of light-related variables would be better predictors of lake metabolism than nutrient-related variables. Model input parameters were in situ high-frequency measurements of dissolved oxygen, temperature, and irradiance. Model simulations were conducted for several (5–12) diel cycles for each lake during the summer season. Accounting for uncertainty, the results from the Bayesian model revealed that 2 lakes were autotrophic for the duration of the experiment, 1 was heterotrophic, and 5 were balanced or had an ambiguous metabolic state. Cross-comparison with a traditional bookkeeping model showed that the majority of lakes were in metabolic balance. A strong coupling between primary production and respiration was observed, with the share of autochthonous primary production respired by consumers increasing with light extinction and nutrient-related variables. Unlike gross primary production, community respiration was strongly related to light extinction, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and total phosphorus. These findings suggest that a drastic decrease in light-limited primary production along the DOC gradient counter-balanced nutrient supply in the darker lakes and thus blurred the relationship between primary production and nutrients. Thus, contrary to our hypothesis, both light and nutrient-related variables seemed to be good predictors of lake respiration and its coupling to lake primary production.