• News
  • Lake Facts
  • About

Lake Scientist

Research Brief: Drivers of Winter Stratification in Lake Superior

1
  • by Samantha Baxter
  • — March 24, 2025

Winter stratification and lake thermal dynamics set up conditions in the spring and summer, as well as being heavily influenced by fall conditions. In a dimictic lake like Lake Superior, how and when winter stratification and lake cooling begin to form is still largely unknown.

Sunset over Lake Superior where the winter stratification study was performed.

Sunset over Lake Superior. (Credit: Rachel Kramer via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

A 2024 study published in Limnology and Oceanography examined 15 years of temperature data on Lake Superior to evaluate drivers of winter stratification. In order to do this, the relative roles of wind mixing and buoyancy flux (the potential for surface waters to mix or stratify vertically) once the water column cools were compared.1

Methods

The data used was pulled from various long-term observational projects focused on monitoring paleoproxies, the role of ice, internal waves, springtime convection, and others using data buoys.1 The buoys were equipped with a data logger and thermistors.

Meteorological data was pulled from a coastal weather station year-round, including in the winter when the buoys are removed to protect the equipment.

Results

The fall transition is characterized by a wind-driven collapse of summer stratification, followed by a surface cooling-driven period wherein the water column is essentially isothermal, and the eventual onset of inverse (cold upper layer) stratification. The rest of the season shows relatively fixed sub-thermocline water temperatures.

Leading into winter stratification, water near the temperature of maximum density does not expand or contract easily, preventing the formation of stable layers of stratification early in the winter as the lake begins cooling. This implies that deepwater temperatures are locked in as a result of specific meteorological conditions, in this case, air temperature and wind speed, and not lake temperature alone.

Overall, the study concludes that winter meteorological conditions play a key part in establishing winter stratification, and future research should focus more on monitoring over-lake weather data to correlate thermocline changes with specific climate parameters.

Resource

  1. Austin, J. (2024). What controls the onset of winter stratification in a deep, dimictic lake? Limnology and Oceanography, 69(12), 2791-2800. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12704
Share

You may also like...

  • Research Summary: The Effect Of Cyanobacteria Blooms On Zooplankton Species Diversity In Two Northern Kentucky Lakes
  • Chinook salmon Net pens boost Lake Michigan hatchery salmon survival rates
  • Wright State Ph.D. candidate Brianne Kelly takes oxygen measurements at Lake Tanganyika in east Africa. Ohio researchers examine how life thrives despite low nutrients in African lake
  • Sockeye salmon For sockeye salmon, surviving heat is a superpower

1 Comment

  1. Research Brief: Evaluating ICESat-2 Performance in Wave Height Predictions - Lake Scientist says:
    June 9, 2025 at 8:44 AM

    […] conditions shape ecosystems, playing a critical role in thermal structure and dynamics and other lake processes. In large lake environments like the Great Lakes, large waves and surges […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

BUY AT FONDRIEST.COM
New NexSens XB200 Data Buoy
  • Recent Posts

    • Monitoring New Hampshire’s Aquatic Ecosystems: Continuous Data Collection in the Lamprey River WatershedJune 30, 2025
    • Sign indicating an "idle speed" or "o-wake zone for boaters on the St. Johns River in Astor, Florida, USA.Research Brief: Evaluating the Efficacy of No-Wake Zone PoliciesJune 30, 2025
    • Eddy covariance sensors on top of tripod.Research Brief: Measuring Lake Superior Evaporation with an Eddy Covariance System at Stannard Rock LighthouseJune 23, 2025
    • Wave-Powered Buoy Deployed in Puget SoundJune 23, 2025
    • Long-Term Monitoring in the Chautauqua Lake WatershedJune 18, 2025
  • Popular Tags

    Great Lakes research summary research research brief pollution Lake Erie Algae invasive species Product Spotlight lake research lake science climate change runoff nutrient-loading Lake Michigan dissolved oxygen international temperature Ohio eutrophication EPA toxic waters ice phosphorus blue-green algae

©2025 Fondriest Environmental Inc. | Questions? Call 888.426.2151 or email customercare@fondriest.com