Understanding and Activing Wtihin Loweswater: A community approach to cathment management
Department of Sociology, Bowland North, Lancaster University, LA1 4YD, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1524 594178 Fax: +44 (0) 1524 594256 E-mail: sociology@lancaster.ac.uk
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Data from Buoy

Information about the buoy

Buoy
An automatic water quality monitoring station was installed on Loweswater at the end of December 2007 after consultation with the local community and regulatory authorities. The buoy collected data at a minute time scale including meteorological information such as: air temperature, wind speed and direction, relative humidity and solar radiation. It also collected information about the lake such as the temperature profile with depth, the pH and concentration of oxygen at the surface and depth and the phytoplankton chlorophyll concentration (the green photosynthetic pigment) measured by fluorescence. The data was sent back by telemetry to a base station at Ken Bell's farm and from there to a database at CEH. Data was uploaded onto this web-site, but unfortunately, the buoy was damaged in a storm in 2010 and is no longer in operation. Please click here for summary graphs of:
  • Loweswater 2009 weekly average water temperatures at three different depths;
  • Loweswater 2009 weekly average wind speeds.

To see graphs and a brief explanation of

  • average daily chlorophyll a concentration (phytoplankton) in Loweswater between December 2008 and June 2009, and
  • temperature variations at different depths in Loweswater between December 2008 and May 2009

please click here.

The data of the buoy provided detailed information on the condition of the lake and its short-term responses to weather events. This increased our understanding of how the lake functions. It was also used to validate a lake model that was run to test the effect of different management actions, such as reducing phosphorus load, on water quality.

 

Lancaster University

 

Rural Economy and Land Use

 

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
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