What are the three temperature layers of a lake?
What are the three temperature layers of a lake? The epilimnion is the upper, warm layer, and is typically well mixed. Below the epilimnion is the metalimnion or thermocline region, a layer of water in which the temperature declines rapidly with depth. The hypolimnion is the bottom layer of colder water, isolated from the epilimnion by the metalimnion.
What is the bottom layer of a lake called?
Hypolimnion: The colder, dense, deep water layer in a thermally stratified lake, lying below the metalimnion and removed from surface influences.
What are the layers of a lake called?
Typically stratified lakes show three distinct layers: the epilimnion, comprising the top warm layer; the thermocline (or metalimnion), the middle layer, whose depth may change throughout the day; and the colder hypolimnion, extending to the floor of the lake.
What are the three stages in the life of a lake?
Over a very, very long time, the lake will accumulate sediment and move from being a young oligotrophic lake, to middle-aged and mesotrophic, to old and eutrophic, and finally the lake will 'die' once it has completely filled in.
What is the coldest layer of a lake?
The hypolimnion is the bottom layer and is colder and denser than either the epilimnion or metalimnion. When a lake or reservoir is thermally stratified, the hypolimnion becomes largely isolated from atmospheric conditions and is often referred to as being stagnant.
What is the coldest part of a lake or pond called?
Profundal Zone. The Profundal Zone or Hypolimnion (cold water region) can be found below the Euphotic Zone. This zone is located under the thermocline where the sunlight does not penetrate the water. Again, the size of this zone depends on the age and water clarity of the pond or lake.
Why do lakes have three temperatures?
Temperature can vary depending on the time of year and the size and depth of a body of water. A unique phenomenon for lakes is the stratification of the water into layers due to changes in temperature at different depths. These layers occur because as water temperature changes so does its density.
What part of a lake warms up the fastest?
Because water warmer than 40oF is more buoyant than cooler water, spring warming creates a shallow, warmer layer of water late in the day on the downwind side of a lake. Other factors being the same, the north side will warm more quickly than the south side of the lake.
Why do lakes freeze from the middle?
Water freezes from the perimeter of the lake to the center. It happens this way because the water is shallower at the lake's edge so it cools off faster.
Why does only the top of a lake freeze?
Freezing from the bottom up would happen with a pond full of acetone or olive oil. The reason water freezes from the top down is because, unlike almost everything else, water gets less dense when it freezes. This is why ice cubes float in a drink.