Climate Change and the European Water Dimension - Agri ...

Lake Surface Temperature [°C]
Description
VI.A.1. Limnology of Lake Mondsee
The alpine lake Mondsee is situated in the Austrian lake region ‘Salzkammergut’ 25
km east of the city of Salzburg, embedded between high limestone mountains and
softer Flysch formations at the edge of the alpine ridge. The watershed consists
mainly of alpine meadows, forest or grassland with little agriculture, industry, and
urbanisation.
In the rare cases of complete ice-cover the lake is dimictic having full mixing in spring
and fall (Dokulil, 2004); however, in most years, mixing occurs throughout the winter
as typical to warm monomictic lakes. Thermal stratification usually lasts from end of
April to mid-October. Summer lake surface temperatures are commonly well above
20°C resulting in considerable recreational pressure during touristic season.
Data availability and investigations
Regular surface lake temperatures are available from the hydrological lake level
station as far back as 1909 (Hydrographisches Zentralbüro, 1964). The lake
chemistry and biota have been irregularly monitored since the mid-1950s
(Findenegg, 1959, 1965, 1969, 1973; Danecker, 1969). More regular measurements
with monthly intervals started in 1968 (Schwarz and Jagsch, 1998). Intensive
sampling began in with weekly intervals between 1982 and 1984, and biweekly
intervals since then (Dokulil, 1993; Dokulil and Skolaut, 1991; Dokulil and Teubner,
2001). Climate impacts on Mondsee have previously been analysed and published
by Dokulil (2000), Livingstone and Dokulil (2001) and Dokulil and Teubner (2002).
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Avg 1982-1996
2000
2001
2002
2003
IPCC 1961-1990
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Month
Figure VI.A.2. Lake Surface Temperature by Season and time.
Observed changes
153