The effect of a flood pulse on the water column of western Lake Superior, USA

Elizabeth C Austin-Minor; Brandy Forsman; Stephanie J. Guildford

doi:10.1016/j.jglr.2014.03.015

The effect of a flood pulse on the water column of western Lake Superior, USA

Elizabeth C Austin-Minor, Brandy Forsman, Stephanie J. Guildford

Chemistry & Biochemistry

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19 Scopus citations

Abstract

On June 19 and 20, 2012, western Lake Superior was impacted by a "mega-rain event" that raised lake levels by 8 to 10. cm. Within the flood plume on June 21, 2012, total suspended solids, total phosphorus, and soluble reactive phosphorus concentrations were elevated, with measurements of 87. mg/L, >. 100. μg/L, and 5.8. μg/L, respectively. Despite the initially high phosphorus loadings, little impact was seen on water column particulate chlorophyll content, which remained in the range 0.7-1.9. μg/L, in the weeks to months following the flood. Both total phosphorus and soluble reactive phosphorus levels tracked those of total suspended solids, returning to background levels within two weeks. However, the availability of photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) was impacted for a month after the flood event, due mainly to colored dissolved organic matter that remained in the surface layer of the stratified lake water column. It appears that the mismatch in timing of nutrient and light availability acted as a check on phytoplankton biomass production in the flood-impacted portion of the lake.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	455-462
Number of pages	8
Journal	Journal of Great Lakes Research
Volume	40
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2014.03.015
State	Published - Jun 2014

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Thanks to Thomas Pevan and Betsy James (University of Minnesota Duluth), Bob Sterner and Sandy Brovold (University of Minnesota Twin Cities), and the captain and crew of the RV Blue Heron for their help with sampling. Elaine Ruzycki (Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth) and Thomas Pevan (Large Lakes Observatory, University of Minnesota Duluth) are thanked for sample processing assistance. George Leshkevich (NOAA/GLERL) is thanked for providing MODIS imagery. Reviewers and the Associate Editor are thanked for comments that significantly improved this manuscript. Funding for sampling and initial analyses was from several sources: the Minnesota Sea Grant College Program supported by the NOAA office of Sea Grant, United States Department of Commerce, under grant No. NA10OAR4170069 ; the EVCAA Office of the University of Minnesota Duluth ; and the U.S. IOOS Office for the development and operation of the Great Lakes Observing System and administered through a cooperative agreement with the Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystem Research. Additional funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for government purposes, not withstanding any copyright notation that may appear hereon. This paper is journal reprint No. JR 613 of the Minnesota Sea Grant College Program.

Keywords

Chlorophyll
Flood
Lake Superior
Nutrients
PAR

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title = "The effect of a flood pulse on the water column of western Lake Superior, USA",

abstract = "On June 19 and 20, 2012, western Lake Superior was impacted by a {"}mega-rain event{"} that raised lake levels by 8 to 10. cm. Within the flood plume on June 21, 2012, total suspended solids, total phosphorus, and soluble reactive phosphorus concentrations were elevated, with measurements of 87. mg/L, >. 100. μg/L, and 5.8. μg/L, respectively. Despite the initially high phosphorus loadings, little impact was seen on water column particulate chlorophyll content, which remained in the range 0.7-1.9. μg/L, in the weeks to months following the flood. Both total phosphorus and soluble reactive phosphorus levels tracked those of total suspended solids, returning to background levels within two weeks. However, the availability of photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) was impacted for a month after the flood event, due mainly to colored dissolved organic matter that remained in the surface layer of the stratified lake water column. It appears that the mismatch in timing of nutrient and light availability acted as a check on phytoplankton biomass production in the flood-impacted portion of the lake.",

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The effect of a flood pulse on the water column of western Lake Superior, USA

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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