Oceans

Summer thermal structure and anticyclonic circulation of Lake Erie

  1. Dmitry Beletsky1,
  2. Nathan Hawley2,
  3. Yerubandi R. Rao3,
  4. Henry A. Vanderploeg2,
  5. Raisa Beletsky1,
  6. David J. Schwab2,
  7. Steven A. Ruberg2

Article first published online: 29 MAR 2012

DOI: 10.1029/2012GL051002

Issue

Geophysical Research Letters

Geophysical Research Letters

Additional Information

How to Cite

Beletsky, D., N. Hawley, Y. R. Rao, H. A. Vanderploeg, R. Beletsky, D. J. Schwab, and S. A. Ruberg (2012), Summer thermal structure and anticyclonic circulation of Lake Erie, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L06605, doi:10.1029/2012GL051002.

Author Information

  1. 1

    CILER, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

  2. 2

    Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, NOAA, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

  3. 3

    National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 29 MAR 2012
  2. Article first published online: 29 MAR 2012
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 3 MAR 2012
  4. Manuscript Revised: 2 MAR 2012
  5. Manuscript Received: 20 JAN 2012

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Keywords:

  • Ekman pumping;
  • Lake Erie;
  • lake circulation;
  • thermocline

[1] In most thermally stratified lakes, the summer thermocline has the shape of a “dome”, with a shallower depth offshore than nearshore. This configuration is accompanied by a lake-wide cyclonic circulation. Lake-wide observations of subsurface temperature in central Lake Erie revealed an atypical “depressed” or “bowl-shaped” thermocline in late summer, with a deeper thermocline in the middle of the lake and a shallower thermocline nearshore. Currents measured in the central basin when the bowl-shaped thermocline was observed were anticyclonic, forming a single basin-wide gyre. It is suggested that the unusual bowl-shaped thermocline is the result of Ekman pumping driven by anticyclonic vorticity in surface winds. The bowl-shaped thermocline can lead to greater hypoxia in bottom waters and negative effects on biota by reducing the hypolimnetic volume.

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