Aquat. Sci.
71 (2009) 65 – 79
1015-1621/09/010065-15
DOI 10.1007/s00027-009-8063-3
 Birkhuser Verlag, Basel, 2009
Research Article
Predicting the onset of thermal stratification in shallow inland
waterbodies
Brett F. Branco* and Thomas Torgersen
University of Connecticut, Department of Marine Sciences, 1080 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT 06340, USA
Received: 11 October 2007; revised manuscript accepted: 20 October 2008
Abstract. Diurnal thermal stratification in shallow
lakes and ponds is well documented and affects
biogeochemical gradients. The onset of thermal
stratification should occur when the stratification
parameter IS = -HB/u* rises above a critical value,
Icrit. Previous applications of the stratification param-
eter lack a common definition for the onset stratifi-
cation and include assumptions inappropriate for
shallow inland waterbodies. Here, the onset of strat-
ification is defined relative to a practical threshold
given by the Rohr-Stillinger criterion, N2 = e/(20n).
Using this definition, the utility of IS for predicting
stratification in two shallow ponds was evaluated
using select periods from over 600 days of temperature
Keywords. Shallow lakes; buoyancy flux; diurnal mixed layer; chemical stratification.
Introduction
Shallow lakes and ponds can stratify and destratify
(with regard to both density and chemistry) on a daily
basis, and may even remain persistently stratified over
multiple days (MacIntyre, 1993; Gu et al., 1996;
Condie and Webster, 2001; Ford et al., 2002). Thus,
the entire water column of a shallow lake or pond may
behave as a diurnal mixed layer (diurnal stratification/
destratification cycle), the physical dynamics of which
are described in detail by Imberger (1985). Strong
* Corresponding author phone: +1 718 951-5000 x6441;
fax: +1 718 951-4753; e-mail: bbranco@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Published Online First: February 12, 2009
Aquatic Sciences
profiles, standard weather data and measured light
attenuation coefficients. Though uncertainties in B
and u* can produce errors in IS on the order of 40 –
60 %, the parameter is robust for predicting the onset
of stratification. Accuracy can be improved by site-
specific determinations of wind sheltering. The critical
value for the onset of stratification was found to be
approximately 1. The stratification parameter can be
an effective screening tool for 1) predicting the
presence of significant chemical gradients, and 2)
determining the minimum wind speed required to
prevent diurnal thermal stratification from develop-
ing.
coupling between the diurnal physical dynamics and
the dynamics of phytoplankton(Ganf, 1974), dissolved
oxygen (Gu et al., 1996; Ford et al., 2002; Branco,
2007), methane (Ford et al. 2002), and other biogeo-
chemical processes has been demonstrated, yet it is
still common in the literature to sample shallow lakes
and ponds as if they were well-mixed with little or no
justification. The well-mixed assumption is likely to be
false in many instances and can lead to inappropriate
sampling strategies or misleading interpretation of
results.
A simple parameter for predicting the onset of
thermal stratification in wind-mixed waterbodies can
be used to assess the physical dynamics in a small
shallow lake or pond prior to sampling or to assess how
66 B. F. Branco and T. Torgersen The onset of stratification

stratification might have impacted the sample taken. Table 1. Definitions and units of variables used.
Such a parameter has been defined previously by Variable Definition Units
Holloway (1980) for estuaries and by Imberger (2001)
B buoyancy flux m2 s-3
for lakes. Hereafter, the term stratification will be CD drag coefficient -
used to indicate density stratification caused by cp specific heat capacity of water J kg-1 C-1
thermal gradients unless indicated otherwise. In this g gravitational constant m s-2
H maximum water depth m
paper, we (i) evaluate the utility of this parameter for Icrit critical value of the stratification parameter -
predicting the onset of stratification in two shallow IS stratification parameter -
ponds, (ii) determine the critical value of the strat- LM Monin-Obukhov length scale m
m’ net wind power transmission coefficient -
ification parameter that defines the practical onset of Q heat flux per unit area W m-2
stratification, (iii) discuss the limitations and uncer- u* water-side friction velocity m s-1
tainties associated with applying the stratification z depth from the air-water interface (positive m
down)
parameter to shallow lakes and ponds, and (iv)
N2 buoyancy frequency squared s-2
provide a method for calculating the minimum wind NRS2 stratification threshold from the Rohr- s-2
speed necessary to prevent stratification. The link Stillinger criterion
between the onset of stratification and the onset of Y solar penetration function -
a thermal expansion coefficient C-1
dissolved oxygen gradients in the study ponds is used e rate of turbulent kinetic energy dissipaton m2 s-3
as an example of the biogeochemical importance of h attenuation coefficient m-1
the stratification parameter. hVIS attenuation coefficient for visible light m-1
k von Karmans constant -
n viscosity m2 s-1
The stratification parameter 1 density kg m-3
Assuming water temperature is above the temperature
of maximum density, a net heat flux into the water
column across the air-water interface creates a negative Though the value of Holloway (1980) was for a
buoyancy flux (B) that tends to stratify the water shallow estuary, it was based on an empirical deter-
column and lower its potential energy (Kraus and mination of m and lacked a definition of stratification
Turner, 1967; Simpson and Hunter, 1974; Kim, 1976). against which to assess the data.
Note that the z-axis is defined as positive downwards. In The stratification parameter (IS) is similar to the
order to maintain a well-mixed water column, the rate well-known Monin-Obukhov length scale (LM) as
of mixing energy input must offset the stratifying applied to the surface layer of lakes (Imberger, 1985):
influence of the buoyancy flux (Simpson and Hunter,
1974; Simpson et al., 1978; Simpson and Bowers, 1981). u3
LM ¼  (3)
The balance between the stratifying and mixing energy B
inputs can be expressed as a dimensionless stratifica-
tion parameter (Holloway, 1980; Imberger, 2001): Thus, the relationship between IS and LM is:

HB H
IS ¼  (1) ¼ IS (4)
u3 LM

where H is the water column depth and u* is the
friction velocity (see Table 1 for units). The onset of
stratification begins when IS rises above a critical value
given by:
Icrit = 2 m (2)
where m’is the wind power transmission coefficient,
discussed later. Imberger (2001) recommends a value
of Icrit = 0.2 for lakes and Holloway (1980) determined
a value of Icrit = 3.6 for a shallow wind mixed estuary.
The value of Imberger (2001) was based on surface
layers of lakes with seasonal thermoclines, an arbi-
trary definition of stratification corresponding with a
0.2 8C temperature differential and an analysis that
included data from late afternoon destratification.
The onset of stratification is expected to occur when
the ratio of H to LM is order 1 because LM indicates the
depth scale over which the shear production and the
buoyant destruction of turbulent kinetic energy are
roughly equal (Imberger, 1985). The difficulty in
applying eq. 1 and eq. 2 as a precise criterion for the
onset of stratification in shallow lakes and ponds is
determining the values of m’ and B. In particular,
many of the assumptions and simplifications used in
deeper systems do not apply to shallow systems, as
discussed in the following sections.
Wind power transmission coefficient
Some of the wind energy entering a waterbody is
transferred to seiches, surface waves or internal waves
and is subsequently lost to bottom friction. More
Aquat. Sci. Vol. 71, 2009 Research Article 67

Table 2. Shortwave radiation bandwidth fractions of the total energy (f) and composite attenuation coefficients (h)
wavelength range (nm) f h (m-1) 95 % absorption depth (m)
< 400 (UV) 0.046 assume same as VIS variable
400 – 700 (VIS) 0.430 measured variable
700 – 910 0.214 2.92 1.0
910 – 950 0.020 20.4 0.15
950 – 1090 0.089 29.5 0.10
1090 – 1350 0.092 98.4 0.03
> 1350 0.109 2880 < 110-4

importantly, a considerable fraction of the wind
energy is lost to viscous dissipation that can account
for 80 – 90 % of the surface energy fluxes into a surface
mixed layer at equilibrium (Imberger, 1985). The wind
power transmission coefficient (m’) can be defined as
“the ratio between the rate of increase of potential
energy in the water column and the wind energy”
input to the system (Holloway, 1980). The value of m’
has been determined empirically, often in relatively
deep lakes or ocean waters that are stratified. Some of
the wind energy lost from the wind-mixed surface
layer in deep stratified systems leaks through the
thermocline. In shallow, initially unstratified lakes, the
surface-mixed layer terminates at the sediment-water
interface. Thus, it is unclear if previous empirical
determinations of m’ in deeper water columns are
applicable to the onset of stratification in shallow
lakes and ponds.
surface heat flux at the air-water interface (Q0net )
includes the net longwave radiation emission, the
evaporative heat flux, and the sensible heat flux
(Henderson-Sellers, 1984). The penetrating solar
shortwave radiation (SWR) flux (Qswr) is treated
separately from the surface heat fluxes because it
causes internal heating of the water column. The SWR
flux can be approximated for heat budget analyses and
buoyancy flux calculations by parsing the full spec-
trum into discrete bandwidths with composite attenu-
ation coefficients (Jassby and Powell, 1975; Jellison
and Melack, 1993; Bean, 2005). Each bandwidth is
attenuated as a function of depth according to Beers
Law (Mobley, 1994):
X
7
Qzswr ¼ Qoswr fi expðhi zÞ (6)
i¼1

One of the few attempts to quantify m’ in an

initially unstratified shallow wind mixed system was where fi is the fraction of energy contained in the ith
made by Holloway (1980). He estimated a mean value bandwidth, and hi is the composite attenuation
of m’ = 1.8 based on four independent estimates coefficient of the ith bandwidth.
ranging from 0.73 to 4.5 in a shallow, wind-mixed When eq. 6 is substituted into eq. 5, the expression
estuary during periods of weak and ephemeral strat- for the buoyancy flux becomes:
ification. The large uncertainty in previous estimates
of m’ and the questionable generality of its value over ga  o 
B¼ Qnet þ ð1 þ Y ÞQoswr (7)
different depth scales mean that Icrit can not be 1cp
calculated precisely from eq. 2. Rather, the value for
Icrit needs to be determined directly through empirical where Y is a solar penetration function (Kim 1976):
methods, as shown in this work. However, from
Holloway (1980), m’ and thus Icrit, are expected to be X7  
1  expðhi H Þ expðhi H Þ
order 1. Y ¼2 fi  (8)
i¼1
hi H 2
Buoyancy flux in sallow water
The buoyancy flux (B) is given by the expression: Applying the seven bandwidth approximation of Bean
(2005; reproduced here in Table 2), the terms in the
0 1 summation of eq. 8 associated with the four band-
Q0net þ Q0swr  QHswr
ga B Z H C widths > 910 nm are negligible because they attenuate
B¼ @ dQzswr A (5)
1cp þ 2 ðH  zÞdz rapidly within the top 10 – 15 cm of the water column
H 0 dz (Table 2). At a water depth of 1 m and a light
attenuation coefficient of 2 m-1, neglecting these
where 1 is the density of water, g is the gravitational terms introduces an error of 2 % in Y.
constant, a is the thermal expansion coefficient, cp is The attenuation of the ultraviolet (UV: < 400 nm)
the specific heat capacity of water, and z is depth into and visible (VIS: 400 – 700 nm) fractions of the total
the water column (positive downwards). The net SWR spectrum is strongly influenced by the concen-
68 B. F. Branco and T. Torgersen
tration of colored dissolved organic matter, chloro-
phyll and suspended particulate matter (Mobley,
1994; Morris et al., 1995). The composite attenuation
coefficient of visible light (hVIS) was routinely meas-
ured during our work, but the attenuation coefficient
of UV was not. The UV and VIS bandwidths are
treated as a single fraction with the measured compo-
site attenuation coefficient of visible light. The error in
this simplification is variable depending on the
characteristics of the particular waterbody in ques-
tion, but is limited by the small percentage of the total
energy contained in the UV fraction (< 5 %). The
attenuation of the 700 – 910 nm fraction (21.4 %) is not
significantly affected by the constituents in the water
column (Ohlmann et al., 2000) and should be treated
separately. After accounting for the assumptions and
simplifications discussed above, eq. 8 becomes:
 
1  ehVIS H ehVIS H
Y ¼ 0:952  applied. During 2004, no macrophytes were observed
hVIS H 2
  (9)
1  e292H e2:92H
þ 0:428 
2:92H 2 ranged from 1 to 2.5 m-1 during this period. The
Including a separate term for the 700 – 910 nm
bandwidth improves the accuracy of Y by almost
10 % over an expression that includes this bandwidth
with the UV and visible portion of the spectrum (for
H = 1 m and hVIS = 2 m-1). The improvement in accu-
racy increases with increasing depth and decreasing
light attenuation.
Note that the buoyancy flux expression presented
here is a simplification that does not consider the
effects of rain, resuspended sediments and dissolved
constituents. At our sites, the water column was always
unstratified during rain events when cloudy skies
reduce the incident SWR fluxes and higher winds and
inflows increase the energy available to maintain well-
mixed conditions. Thus, the stratification parameter
has no utility on rainy days at our sites. The simple case
of thermal density stratification onset is considered
here and the contributions of sediment and chemical
contributions to the onset of stratification are neglect-
ed. This approach is justified for this work because
examination of over four years of data from the study
sites indicates that the appearance of gradients in
dissolved constituents or turbidity (as a proxy for
suspended sediments) always lags the onset of thermal
gradients. While suspended sediments and gradients
in dissolved constituents may reinforce the stratifica-
tion once it begins or contribute to local stratification
within the sediment-water boundary layer, they are
not major factors in driving the onset of stratification
at the scale of the entire water column.
The onset of stratification
Methods
Study sites
The stratification parameter was applied to Mirror
Lake (N 41.8078, W 72.2478) and Swan Lake (N
41.8118, W 72.2528), two impoundments on the main
campus of the University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT,
USA; Fig. 1 and Table 3), using data from 2002, 2003
and 2004. Both of these small, shallow ponds are
mesotrophic to eutrophic. Mirror Lake is a phyto-
plankton-dominated pond with no submerged macro-
phytes observed. Chlorophyll a concentrations in
Mirror Lake typically range from 1 – 100 mg L-1. The
attenuation coefficient for visible light typically rang-
es from 2 to 5 m-1. Chlorophyll a values up to 400 mg L-1
and attenuation coefficients up to 10 m-1 have been
observed during intense cyanobacteria blooms. The
bottom of Swan Lake was blanketed by the macro-
phytes Elodea until 2003 when herbicides were
in Swan Lake and chlorophyll a concentrations ranged
from < 1 to 20 mg L-1. The attenuation coefficient
sediments of Mirror Lake are loosely consolidated
and fine and can be described as a black ooze. The
bottom of Swan Lake is generally sandier with some
gravel regions.
Table 3. Physical characteristics of Mirror Lake and Swan Lake on
the campus of the University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT, USA).
Parameter Mirror Lake Swan Lake
area (ha) 2.05 0.99
volume (m3) 14643 9710
mean depth (m) 0.72 0.98
maximum depth (m) 1.5 1.8
length (m) 229 178
width (m) 120 78
maximum fetch (m) 200 177
Over 600 days of high temporal and spatial
resolution temperature and oxygen data were col-
lected during the spring, summer and fall periods of
2002 – 2004 in the locations indicated by the white
circles in figure 1. Temperature was measured with a
chain of thermistors spaced 10 to 20 cm apart
(Branco et al., 2005). Each thermistor has a precision
of  0.01 8C, but the variability amongst thermistors
was  0.02 8C (Bean, 2005). During the spring and
fall, it is typical to observe temperature stratification
on some days and unstratified conditions on others
(Fig. 2). Oxygen data were collected using the pump-
profiler system described in Branco et al. (2005).
Light attenuation coefficients were determined from
Aquat. Sci. Vol. 71, 2009
Figure 1. Mirror Lake (ML) and Swan Lake (SL) on the campus of
the University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT, USA). White circles
indicate the location where temperature and oxygen profiles were
acquired.
light profiles taken with a Li-CORTM spherical
Quantum PAR Sensor.
Air temperature, wind speed at 2 m, wind direc-
tion, SWR (wavelengths 280 to 2800 nm) and rainfall
data were obtained from the University of Connect-
icuts Plant Science Farm (N 41.7958, W 72.2288),
located approximately 2 km southeast of Mirror Lake
and 2.7 km southeast of Swan Lake. The data are
30 min averages except for the rainfall data, which are
30 min totals. Relative humidity data at irregular time
Research Article 69
Figure 2. Thermistor data in Mirror Lake for 23 – 30 March 2003.
Only the surface (115 cm above bottom) and bottom thermistors
(10 cm above bottom) are shown for clarity. The total water depth
at this location in the pond was 120 cm.
intervals (approximately one-hour intervals) were
obtained from the Windham Airport station (N
41.7428, W72.1848), which is approximately 9 km
southeast of Mirror Lake and 9.7 km southeast of
Swan Lake. The relative humidity data were interpo-
lated onto a 30 min grid to match the frequency of the
farm data. Surface heat fluxes were calculated from
bulk formulae (Appendix I) using weather data from
the farm and airport and surface water temperature
from the highest thermistor in the chain.
Practical threshold of stratification
Weak and ephemeral stratification may be detectable,
yet have negligible impact on the biogeochemistry on
hourly timescales. We define stratification in terms of
a practical threshold above which the time scale of
mixing is reduced relative to the time scale of diurnal
biogeochemical dynamics. Temperature gradients are
used often as a measure of stratification (Jellison and
Melack, 1993; Fee et al., 1996) because they are easy
to measure and the precision of typical thermistors
used in field studies allows detection of temperature
differences < 0.02 8C. However, since density is a non-
linear function of temperature, identical thermal
gradients may correspond to different density gradi-
ents for different mean water column temperatures.
The square of the buoyancy frequency (N2 in s-2) is a
preferred measure of stratification since it is a direct
expression of the density gradient:
g d1
N2 ¼ (10)
1o dz
70 B. F. Branco and T. Torgersen The onset of stratification

Table 4. Mean temperature (Tmean), temperature range (Trange), and light attenuation coefficient (hVIS) used in the calculation of Y (eq. 17).
Period Pond Tmean1 Trange2 hVIS (m-1)
5 – 10 October 2003 Mirror 17.5 14.7 – 22.1 2.23
23 – 29 March 2003 Mirror 12.1 9.3 – 15.8 2.04
9 – 11 May 2003 Mirror 17.8 15.1 – 21.9 2.25
24 – 25 April 2004 Swan 14.8 13.6 – 17.0 1.66
1
simple average of all thermistor temperatures over all depths during the specified period
2
the minimum and the maximum temperature recorded by any thermistor at any depth during the specified period
3
measured on 3 October
4
typical early spring value
5
measured on 13 May
6
average of all values from 2004

Here, N2 is calculated assuming a linear density
gradient between adjacent thermistors where density
is calculated as a function of temperature. Typical
spacings between thermistors ranged from 10 to
20 cm. The Rohr-Stillinger active turbulence criterion
as described in West and Lorke (2003) can be used to
specify a stratification threshold based on N2. The
criterion states that mixing is suppressed by stratifi-
cation when the rate of turbulent kinetic energy
dissipation is below a transitional value (etr) found
from the expression:
etr ¼ 20nN 2
isothermal water column subject only to penetrating
SWR. For a light attenuation coefficient of 2 m-1, it
would take almost an hour to create a temperature
differential of 0.5 8C over the top 1 m with SWR = 400
W m-2, a typical midmorning value for Mirror Lake.
The periods selected for analysis from over 600 days of
data demonstrated sensitivity to changing meteoro-
logical conditions and contained both thermally
stratified and unstratified days. The ranges of wind
speed and incident SWR (Fig. 3), as well as mean
water column temperature and light attenuation
(Table 4) are representative of the two ponds during
(11) spring and fall.

where n is the viscosity. Assuming that the rate of

dissipation follows the law of the wall (West and
Lorke, 2003):

e ¼ u3 ðkzÞ1 (12)

where k is von Karmans constant, the threshold for N2

above which active turbulence is suppressed is found
by substituting eq. 12 into eq. 11:

2
NRS ¼ u3 ð20nkzÞ1 (13)

Practical stratification occurs when N2 is greater than

NRS2 at z = H/2. Values of n = 1.210-6 m2 s-1 and k = 0.4
were used.
Figure 3. Wind speed (dark line) and shortwave radiation (SWR;
hatched areas) for the periods of (a) 5 – 10 October 2002, (b) 23 – 29
Calculating stratification parameter (IS) from data March 2003, (c) 9 – 11 May 2003 and (d) 24 – 25 April 2004.
The values of the stratification parameter (IS) for
select periods in Mirror Lake and Swan Lake were
calculated for half-hour intervals to correspond with The friction velocity (u*) was calculated from the
the temporal resolution of the weather data. This is wind speed at 10 m:
consistent with our application of the practical strat-  
ification threshold, which is never reached instanta- 1 0:5
u ¼ CD a U10 (14)
neously. Rather, stratification will build over time to 1w
the practical threshold when surface warming be-
comes more important than wind mixing. The time- The drag coefficient was assumed to be 1.210-3 for
scale over which this occurs depends on the relative winds > 3 m s-1 and was calculated using the expres-
strength of u* and B. This is evident by considering an sion of West and Lorke (2003) for winds < 3 m s-1:
Aquat. Sci. Vol. 71, 2009
1:15
CD ¼ 0:0044U10 (15)
The measured wind speed height at the plant farm
(2 m) was converted to a height of 10 m assuming a
logarithmic velocity profile (Panofsky and Dutton,
1984):
 
U z threshold in the afternoon. In this case, IS increased
Uz ¼ ln (16)
k z0
where z0 is the surface roughness, taken to be 0.01 m, a
typical value for a grassy field over which the wind
anemometer was located.
The ponds are likely to experience wind sheltering
effects due to their small size and the proximity of
trees and buildings. A reduction in u* was estimated
from Rubbert and Kçngeter (2005). For Mirror Lake,
u* was multiplied by a factor of 0.77 for northerly and
northeasterly winds due to the close proximity of
buildings and trees to the shore. For all other wind
directions, it was assumed that sheltering was insig-
nificant. For Swan Lake, u* was multiplied by a factor
of 0.45 for all wind directions since the pond is more
sheltered than Mirror Lake on all sides. The assump-
tion for Mirror Lake is supported by the agreement
between temperature data and modeling results
(Branco, 2007), but the Swan Lake assumption
remains untested. The buoyancy flux was determined
using eq. 7 and eq. 9.
When wind speed is zero, the stratification param-
eter becomes undefined (eq. 1). However, the mini-
mum wind speed in the farm data corresponds with the
anemometers mechanical threshold of approximately
0.2 m s-1, and these values were used as recorded. The
time period of 23 – 29 March 2003 in Mirror Lake is
used to determine the critical value of IS for the onset
of practical stratification.
Results
The values of the stratification parameter (IS) can be
positive or negative depending on the sign of the
buoyancy flux. The stratification parameter is neg-
ative at night and under cloudy daytime conditions
when surface cooling is greater than solar heating. For
display purposes, the values of the stratification
parameter are plotted using a log scale in figures 4 –
7 and thus negative values are not shown.
Stratification remained below the practical thresh-
old defined earlier for the entirety of the daylight
period on 23 March, 25 March and 29 March (Fig. 4).
On these three days, IS never rose above 1. In contrast,
stratification was strong and clearly exceeded the
practical threshold for most of the daylight hours on 24
Research Article 71
March and 26 March. On these two days, IS was
frequently > 1. On 28 March, the stratification rose
above the practical threshold in the morning when IS
was > 1, but quickly fell below the threshold by noon
when IS decreased below 1. In contrast, the stratifica-
tion was below the threshold on the morning of 27
March when IS was < 1, but was greater than the
above 1 only briefly, though the timing of this event
coincides with stratification rising above the thresh-
old. The results for this one-week period strongly
suggest that the critical value of IS is approximately 1
(Icrit  1) for Mirror Lake. The results from the period
of 5 – 10 October 2002 (Fig. 5) and 9 – 11 May 2003
(Fig. 6) support this finding. For example, on 7, 8 and
10 October, stratification does not rise above the
threshold until the afternoon when the values of IS
increase above 1.
The decrease of IS below 1 does not necessarily
result in immediate destratification because it takes
time for mixing energy to degrade the thermocline.
This is evident on 27 March 2003 in Mirror Lake
(Fig. 4) when stratification remained above the
threshold for many hours after IS fell below 1. In this
case, the winds became calm around sunset leaving
convective overturn during surface cooling as the
primary driver for destratification. Thus, IS < Icrit is a
prerequisite for destratification, though it is not a
robust predictor of destratification.
Application of the stratification parameter to
Swan Lake is more difficult since the wind sheltering
coefficient was never directly measured or modeled.
Using a sheltering factor of 0.45 on 24 April 2004,
stratification remains below the threshold through-
out the day (Fig. 7). The value of IS is between 1 and 3
from early morning until noon before decreasing
below 1 in the late afternoon. If the wind sheltering
coefficient is accurate, this result suggests that Icrit
may be closer to 3 in Swan Lake, though still order 1
and consistent with the value of 3.6 specified by
Holloway (1980). However, the sheltering effect may
be overestimated. If we apply the same wind
sheltering factor from Mirror Lake to Swan Lake,
the result for 24 April 2004 is consistent with Icrit  1.
Note that changes in the wind sheltering factor
change both the stratification parameter and the
stratification threshold as they are both dependent
on u*. Regardless of the wind sheltering coefficient
used, the data from 25 April 2004 in Swan Lake are
consistent with Icrit  1 (Fig. 7).
72 B. F. Branco and T. Torgersen
Figure 4. (a) The value of the stratification parameter (IS); and (b)
the bulk buoyancy frequency squared (N2 : black line) and the
stratification threshold from eq. 13 (NRS2 : gray line) for the period
23 – 29 March 2003 in Mirror Lake. The solid line in (a) indicates
Icrit = 1.0. The vertical dashed lines indicate the onset of stratified
daytime periods where N2 exceeds NRS2. Daytime (black) and
nighttime (white) periods are indicated by the bar at the top of
panel (b).
Discussion
Sources of uncertainty
Major uncertainties in the calculation of IS can be
attributed to 1) uncertainty in the wind sheltering
effect when using remote winds, 2) uncertainty in
sediment heat fluxes, 3) uncertainty in uncalibrated
heat flux formulae, and 4) uncertainty in the light
attenuation coefficient. The uncertainty associated
with the wind sheltering effect was discussed above.
The buoyancy flux calculation (eq. 8) does not
consider sediment-water heat exchange and assumes
the sediment-water interface is an open boundary for
unattenuated SWR. These omissions/simplifications
are insignificant when calculating B for a deep
The onset of stratification
Figure 5. Same as figure 4 for the period 5 – 10 October 2002 in
Mirror Lake.
waterbody or the diurnal mixed layer (Imberger,
1985) bounded by a metalimnion or seasonal ther-
mocline (Imberger, 2001; Kraus and Turner 1967;
Kim 1976). Unattenuated SWR can be significant in
a shallow lake or pond. When hH < 2 (for example, a
1 m deep water column with hVIS = 2 m-1), more than
10 % of the associated SWR reaches the bottom of
the water column. Some of the radiation will be
reflected and scattered and some will be absorbed by
the sediments. The relative importance of each
process is determined by the physical, biological
and chemical characteristics of the interface (Mar-
itorena et al., 1994).
On hourly timescales, the exchange of sensible
heat between the sediments and water column is
driven by diurnal changes in the water temperature
(Smith, 2002). The diurnal sensible flux is typically
into the sediments during water column heating and
out of the sediments during water column cooling,
with peak fluxes into and out of the sediments
occurring at dusk and dawn, respectively. Thus, the
sediment heat flux tends to destabilize the water
Aquat. Sci. Vol. 71, 2009
Figure 6. Same as figure 4 for the period 9 – 11 May 2003 in Mirror
Lake.
column in the morning and stabilize the water column
in the afternoon.
The errors associated with our treatment of
unattenuated radiation and sediment heat fluxes
depend on many factors such as the depth of the
water column, the attenuation coefficient, the albedo
of the sediment surface, the thermal conductivity of
the sediments, and the water temperature near the
bottom. However, some estimate of the error associ-
ated with neglecting sediment heat fluxes can be
made. For example, the maximum sediment sensible
heat flux one might expect in a 0.5-m deep water
column is approximately 10 W m-2 at the dawn and
dusk peaks (Smith, 2002). The SWR flux typically
ranges from 100 to 600 W m-2 during the day at
temperate latitudes, with values < 100 W m-2 occurring
near dawn and dusk. Thus, the mean daily sediment
heat flux values will be orders of magnitude lower than
the surface heat fluxes and SWR. The uncertainty
associated with excluding the sediment heat flux is
expected to be insignificant for most of the day, though
it may be significant for the first hour after sunrise
when the SWR flux is low.
Research Article 73
Figure 7. Same as figure 4 for 24 and 25 April 2004 in Swan Lake.
The line with filled squares in (a) and (b) are for a wind sheltering
coefficient of 0.45. The line with open squares in (a) and (b) are for
a wind sheltering coefficient of 0.77. See text for explanation. The
vertical dashed lines indicate the onset of stratified daytime periods
where N2 exceeds NRS2 on 25 April.
The uncertainties associated with heat flux
equations are low based on the modeling results of
Branco (2007). The model was able to predict the
vertical temperature distribution and the integrated
heat budget of Mirror Lake with no systematic bias
on the weekly timescale and small errors on the
hourly timescale using the heat flux equations in
Appendix I as forcing functions. The maximum
instantaneous error associated with any of the heat
flux terms is estimated to be order 10 W m -2 and
usually much less. Since the daily mean surface heat
fluxes to Mirror Lake over the period 23 – 30 March
2003 were -150 W m -2, it can further be estimated
that the maximum error in B due to heat flux
uncertainties (including sediments) is < 10 % for
this period. The uncertainty or natural variability in
the light attenuation coefficient (hVIS) can also add
uncertainty to the value of B. For a depth of 1.2 m
and a light attenuation coefficient of 2 m -1, an
74 B. F. Branco and T. Torgersen
uncertainty of  0.5 m -1 will result in an error on the
order of 10 %. Simple checks on the sensitivity of B
to combined uncertainties in the light attenuation
coefficient and the heat fluxes indicate that errors
on the order of 40 – 60 % can be realized. However,
since the parameter IS is changing over orders of
magnitude, the uncertainties will have little effect
on the value of IS relative to Icrit unless they are of the
same order for extended periods.
Downslope convection
Down-slope convection is not included in the calcu-
lation of IS, but may cause stratification to increase
early in the morning before SWR becomes significant
and IS rises above Icrit. Downslope convection is driven
by downwelling near the pond edges where water
cools and increases its density at a faster rate than the
water over deeper areas in the interior (Sturman et al.,
1999). Evidence of downslope convection is found
when bottom temperature continues to decrease even
after surface temperature begins to increase after
sunrise. This phenomenon is evident in the ponds on
the mornings of 9 and 10 May 2003 in Mirror Lake and
24 and 25 April 2004 in Swan Lake. After the
downslope convection ceases early in the morning,
stratification should only continue to increase above
the threshold if IS rises above Icrit. Otherwise, the weak
stratification induced by downslope convection will be
short-lived.
Biogeochemical implications of stratification onset
Smith et al. (2002) estimate that there are 2.6 million
small (< 1 ha) artificial impoundments in the con-
terminous United States, with the number increasing
at an annual rate of 1 – 3% y-1. Downing et al. (2006)
estimate the global abundance of natural waterbod-
ies < 10 ha in size at over 300 million. Thus, small
waterbodies represent over 99 % of the total number
of natural inland waterbodies and contain 31 % of the
total surface area (Downing et al., 2006). Many of
these small waterbodies are likely to be very shallow
with mean depths of order 1 m or less (Wetzel, 2001;
Fig. 3 – 2). The cumulative biogeochemical impact of
these small, shallow waterbodies is poorly defined,
but likely significant at the local, regional and global
scales. For example, small waterbodies are likely an
important component of the global carbon budget
(Cole et al., 2007; Torgersen and Branco, 2008). The
means and mechanisms by which shallow water-
bodies process their autochthonous and allochtho-
nous carbon loading is governed in part by microbial
activity in the sediments (e.g., Torgersen and Branco,
2008). Thus, the pathways and rates of the carbon
processing are altered by redox and pH conditions of
the sediment, which in turn are directly impacted by
The onset of stratification
oxygen stratification in the water column that is
controlled by density stratification.
In the small, shallow ponds studied here, a
stratification threshold based on the Rohr-Stillinger
active turbulence criterion (eq. 13) provides a clear
and practical distinction between weak thermal strat-
ification and strong thermal stratification. Further-
more, the practical onset of stratification has been
demonstrated to be associated with values of the
stratification parameter rising above a critical value of
Icrit  1 for Mirror Lake and that Icrit is order 1 for
Swan Lake. A value of Icrit = 1 corresponds with
LM = H. This is a satisfying result since stratification
would be expected to begin when the Monin-Obu-
khov lengthscale becomes less than the total water
depth, and this occurs when IS increases above 1
(MacIntyre et al., 2002). Thus, the critical conditions
necessary for thermal stratification on the diurnal
timescale are quantified in the stratification parame-
ter. This can now be used to identify periods when the
water column might exhibit significant chemical
stratification as well.
The top to bottom difference in oxygen concen-
tration was calculated for a series of water column
profiles obtained with an automated pump-profiling
system (Branco et al, 2005) during 9 May 2003 in
Mirror Lake and 25 April 2004 in Swan Lake (Fig. 8).
The oxygen difference can be compared with the
excess stratification found by subtracting the prac-
tical threshold from N2. Negative values of excess
stratification indicate that stratification is below the
threshold, and negative oxygen differences indicate
that the surface oxygen concentration is lower than
that near the bottom. The latter condition is fre-
quently found in our ponds in the spring whenever
they become supersaturated with oxygen. Because
the ponds are shallow, there is adequate sunlight for
photosynthesis to occur throughout the water col-
umn. The negative oxygen differentials in figure 8
may be due to higher rates of oxygen loss across the
air-water interface than across the sediment water
interface. The gradient may also be reinforced by the
photosynthesis of benthic algae. Note that the oxy-
gen difference is generally near zero when the excess
stratification is zero or negative, but increases in
magnitude with the onset of positive excess stratifi-
cation.
Of course, the magnitude of the oxygen difference
at any given time is a function of both stratification
and the biotic rates of oxygen production (photosyn-
thesis) and consumption (respiration and chemical
oxygen demand). However, the point to note is that
large oxygen concentration gradients can develop in
very shallow waters in the presence of diurnal
stratification. If using oxygen as the basis for calcu-
Aquat. Sci. Vol. 71, 2009
Figure 8. Stratification above the practical threshold (N2 – NRS2 :
solid line) and surface to bottom difference in dissolved oxygen
(DO) at half-hour intervals (open squares) for 25 April 2004 in
Swan Lake (top panel) and 9 May 2003 in Mirror Lake (bottom
panel). Negative DO differences indicate lower oxygen concen-
tration near the surface driven by deep water supersaturation and
surface gas exchange.
lation of ecosystem metabolism or as an indicator of
redox condition (for example), the sampling strategy
must account for the stratification. A series of single
water samples taken at mid-depth would not provide
an adequate assessment of the chemical and ecolog-
ical conditions in the waterbody.
The upper limit on the value of m
The critical value for the stratification parameter
(Icrit  1) suggests that an upper limit of 0.5 can be
assigned to the value of m’. This value lies between 0.1
and 0.73, the implicit value of Imberger (2001)
(applying eq. 2 and Icrit = 0.2) and the low end of the
Holloway (1980) estimates cited earlier. Holloway
(1980) computed m’ by observing changes in the water
column potential energy and constructing an energy
balance including the buoyancy flux B. However, his
simplifications when formulating B would tend to
produce overestimates of m’ As pointed out earlier,
Imberger (2001) used data associated with diurnal
surface layers overlying a seasonal thermocline to
determine the critical value for the stratification
parameter. Since some of the surface energy can
leak through the bottom of the diurnal surface layer
into the seasonal thermocline (Imberger, 1985), the
value of m’ may be lower in deep lakes than in the
shallow waterbodies considered in this work where
the diurnal surface layer terminates at the sediment-
water interface. At the same time, our estimate of
m’= 0.5 should be strictly considered an upper limit. If
measurable stratification (i.e. any gradient in density
Research Article 75
no matter how small in magnitude or duration) were
used as criteria for IS, a lower value of Icrit would likely
be determined, and thus a lower value of m’.
The minimum wind speed to prevent stratification
In general, when IS < Icrit stratification can not rise
above the practical threshold given by the Rohr-
Stillinger criterion. Thus, the minimum wind speed
required to maintain an unstratified water column can
be predicted for a given water depth and light
attenuation coefficient by substituting eq. 14 into
eq. 1 and solving for U10 :
 1=2
min 1a CD 1
U10 ¼ ðHBIcrit Þ =3 (17)
1ref
Applying constant densities for water (1000 kg m-3)
and air (1.2 kg m-3) and a constant drag coefficient for
winds at 10 m (1.2x10-3), the expression for the critical
wind speed at 10 m (Ucrit) is:
1
Ucrit ¼ 833ðHBÞ =3 (18)
The critical wind speed for a waterbody (Fig. 9) is a
function of the water depth and the buoyancy flux,
which is primarily controlled by the SWR flux during
the day. The range of B shown in figure 9 is typical for
the spring, summer and fall at our study sites. We
emphasize that depth alone does not determine the
propensity of a system to stratify or remain unstrati-
fied. The ambient meteorological conditions that
determine wind speed and the buoyancy fluxes are
equally important. As more sunlight energy is avail-
able (increasing B) it takes more wind energy to keep
the system unstratified for any given depth. This
information is critical to environmental engineers,
managers and researchers when designing artificial
ponds for storm water retention/detention, aquacul-
ture, recreation or aesthetics. For example, prevention
of biogeochemical gradients may be an important
design criterion, and we have shown that oxygen
distribution in the water column is sensitive to the
practical stratification threshold defined here. Com-
bining estimates of light attenuation with historical
meteorological data to estimate U10 and B can allow
one to determine the likely percentage of days that a
waterbody of a specified depth will stratify, and thus
establish one of the conditions necessary for biogeo-
chemical gradients to develop.
The timescale of stratification onset requires that
weather data be available at the resolution of one hour
or better in order to apply the stratification parameter
effectively. At our sites, wind speed often follows a
76 B. F. Branco and T. Torgersen
Figure 9. The critical wind speed to prevent stratification as a
function of buoyancy flux (B) for water depths of 1 m, 2 m and 3 m.
The critical wind speed was calculated from eq. 18. If wind speed is
below the critical range in an unstratified waterbody, the water-
body will tend to stratify. If wind speed is above the critical range,
the waterbody is likely to remain unstratified.
diurnal pattern (low during the night, higher during
the day) and generally ranges from 0 to 5 m s-1 (Fig. 3).
Since the mean depths of Mirror Lake and Swan Lake
are both order of 1 m, the critical wind speed falls
within this typical range throughout the day, and the
timing of the wind speed increases relative to the
increase in SWR (and thus B) is critical in determining
the onset of stratification. Mean daily wind speed data
is inadequate for characterizing the propensity of a
shallow waterbody to stratify (Condie and Webster,
2001).
Macrophytes and algae mats
The buoyancy flux expression presented in this work
here does not account for the presence of macrophytes
or macroalgae mats that dissipate some of the mixing
energy supplied by the wind (Herb and Stefan, 2004;
Herb and Stefan, 2005) and also shade the water
column from SWR (Westlake, 1964). Both the energy
dissipation and the buoyancy flux associated with the
shading can be parameterized provided the plant type,
density, and canopy height is known (Herb and Stefan,
2005). Floating macrophytes or macroalgae will also
impact the buoyancy through modification of the heat
fluxes and wind stress at the air-water interface (Dale
and Gillepsie, 1976; Chimney et al., 2006). Though the
impacts of macrophytes on diurnal stratification have
been recognized for at least 30 years (e.g. Dale and
Gillepsie, 1976), more work is needed to quantify and
The onset of stratification
parameterize the effects on wind stress and buoyancy
fluxes so that the stratification parameter can be
extended to macrophyte-dominated waters and to the
role of physics in controlling resilient trophic states
(Scheffer et al., 1993; Scheffer et al., 2001).
Persistent stratification and destratification
Finally, the stratification parameter is not applicable
in the form presented here on days where stratifica-
tion persists above the practical threshold from the
previous day. For example, the destratification over
the night of 10 – 11 May 2003 in Mirror Lake (Fig. 6)
was incomplete and N2 was still above the practical
stratification threshold by sunrise on the 11th. These
periods of persistent stratification (incomplete night-
time overturn) can lead to rapid depletions of the
oxygen at the sediment-water interface and subse-
quent increases of reduced compounds into the water
column from the sediments (Branco, 2007). However,
the stratification parameter can only indicate if the
waterbody would likely have stratified from a well-
mixed condition, and can not predict persistent
stratification. Destratification is a separate problem
and the daily sequencing of stratification/destratifica-
tion for shallow waterbodies needs to be evaluated
with daily information.
Conclusions
The stratification parameter, IS, has utility for predict-
ing the onset of thermal stratification in the two
shallow ponds of this work, with a critical value of
Icrit  1. The critical value for the onset of stratification
is likely to be order 1 over a range of sizes and shallow
depths (< 3 m) because IS is based on a general energy
balance over the full depth of the water column.
Recognition of the controls exerted by physical
dynamics in shallow lakes and ponds is critical when
evaluating their biogeochemical dynamics. Because of
the excessively large numbers of shallow lakes and
ponds, individual sampling to quantify cumulative
biogeochemical function in the landscape is not
possible. Tools such as the stratification parameter
then become necessary for identifying likely modes of
system dynamics and provide a means to parameterize
these shallow systems in, e.g., regional and watershed-
scale models. This requires more work and modeling
to link physical processes to biogeochemical process-
es.
Aquat. Sci. Vol. 71, 2009
Appendix I: Heat flux formulations
Long-wave radiation
The long-wave radiation from the atmosphere to the
water surface is a function of the air temperature
(Henderson-Sellers, 1986):
Qal ¼ ð1  AL Þea s TaK
4
(I-1)
where AL is the reflectivity (0.03), ea is the atmospheric
emissivity, s is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant:
(5.669710-8 W m-2 K-4) and TaK is the air temperature
[K].
Atmospheric emissivity can be expressed as a
function of water vapor pressure in air and the fraction
of cloud cover. Henderson-Sellers (1986) recom-
mends the equations presented by Raphael (1962).
For a cloud cover fraction (C) between 0.0 and 0.6 the
equation is:
 
ea ¼ 0:84  0:1  9:973  106 ea ð1  CÞ
(I-2)
þ 3:491  105 ea
and for C > 0.6:
 
ea ¼ 0:87  0:175  29:92  106 ea ð1  CÞ
(I-3)
þ 2:693  105 ea
where ea is the vapor pressure at air temperature [Pa].
Since C is a difficult parameter to measure and is not
routinely available, C = 0.5 is assumed to avoid
systematic bias and apply eq. I-2:
ea ¼ 0:79 þ 3:990  105 ea (I-4)
The water surface is treated as a black body emitter:
Qwl ¼ ew s TwK
4
(I-5)
where TwK is the surface water temperature [K] and ew
is the water emissivity ( 0.972) (Henderson-Sellers,
1986). Water temperature is computed by the model.
The net long wave radiation flux across the air-water
interface is:
a w
Ql ¼ Q þ Ql
l (I-6)
Evaporative (latent) heat flux
The evaporative heat flux includes both the latent heat
loss from the water and the heat carried away by water
vapor itself, though the latter can be neglected
(Henderson-Sellers, 1986). A common expression
Research Article 77
for the removal of latent heat by the evaporation of
water is:
Qevap ¼ 1w Lv E (I-7)
where Lv is the latent heat of vaporization for water [J
kg-1] and E is the evaporation rate [m s-1]. The
evaporation rate is commonly expressed as a function
of the forced convection provided by wind. However
for sites like Mirror Lake, evaporation can still be
significant under light or even negligible winds when
the boundary layer near the air-water interface is
unstable and free convection is present (Ryan et al.,
1974; Sill, 1983). The latent heat flux formula devel-
oped by Ryan et al. (1974) and improved by Adams
et al. (1990) includes both wind-forced convection and
free convection under an unstable atmosphere. The
expression is (Adams et al., 1990):
h 1
2  2 i1=2
Qe ¼ lðTwv  Tav Þ =3 þ 5:1  102 A0:05 U2
 ðesw  ea Þ (I-8)
where l is a constant equal to 2.710- W m-2 Pa-1
(8C)-1/3, Twv and Tav are the virtual temperature of the
surface water and air, respectively, at 2 m, A is the
surface area of the waterbody [ha], U2 is the wind
speed at 2 m height, and esw is the saturated vapor
pressure at the air water interface [Pa]. The virtual
water or air temperature (Tv) is given by:
TK
Tv ¼  (I-9)
1
0:378e
P
where P is the atmospheric pressure [Pa] and TK is
either water temperature or air temperature [K]. For
Tav, e is equal to ea and for Tsv, e is equal to esw. The
constant l contains the kinematic mass transfer
coefficient obtained through scaling arguments, latent
heat of vaporization, and the conversion from vapor
density to vapor pressure using the ideal gas law. See
Ryan et al. (1974) for details.
For the saturated vapor pressure, Henderson-
Sellers (1986) recommends:

es ðTÞ ¼ 2:718  1010  exp 4157=ðTK  33:91Þ (I-10)
The vapor pressure in air can be calculated by
multiplying the saturated vapor pressure at air tem-
perature by the relative humidity:
ea ¼ RH  esa (I-11)
78 B. F. Branco and T. Torgersen
Sensible heat flux
The sensible heat flux is driven by temperature
difference between the air and water. Empirical
studies have shown that the sensible heat flux is a
function of wind speed. The expression cited in
Culberson and Piedrahita (1996) was used:
Qs ¼ 1:5701U2 ðTw  Ta Þ (I-12)
Shortwave radiation
Some of the solar short-wave radiation incident at the
air-water interface is reflected back to the atmos-
phere. Thus the solar short-wave radiation (SWR) that
penetrates the air-water interface is:
Qoswr ¼ QIswr ð1  AS Þ (I-13)
where QIswr is the incident shortwave radiation AS is
the surface albedo. The surface albedo varies widely
with water conditions, the zenith angle of the sun and
cloud cover. A simple empirical relationship from
Henderson-Sellers (1986) was chosen based on the
assumption that cloud cover fraction was in the range
of 0.05 to 0.5:
AS ¼ 0:0434q0:95 (I-14)
where q is the sun zenith angle [radians].
Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation under Grant No.
EAR0002993 and Grant No. EAR0003408. Support
was also provided by the Connecticut Institute of
Water Resources and the University of Connecticut.
John Bean, Peter Rich, Jeffrey Saunders, Suzanne
Auer, Heather Pugh, and David Banker contributed
to the field work. We thank Steve Olsen for providing
access to the weather data from the University of
Connecticuts Plant Science Farm. We also thank
Alfred West and two anonymous reviewers for their
thoughtful comments, critiques and suggestions,
which have improved the manuscript significantly.
References
Adams, E. E., D. J. Cosler and K. R. Helfrich, 1990. Evaporation
from heated water bodies: predicting combined forced plus
free convection. Water Resour. Res. 26: 425 – 435.
Bean, J. R., 2005. Effective vertical diffusivity in shallow lakes by
an enhanced flux-gradient method: the dependence of diffu-
sivity on density gradient and an example application to
ecosystem stability. University of Connecticut, 143 pp.
Branco, B., 2007. Coupled physical and biogeochemical dynamics
The onset of stratification
in shallow aquatic systems: observations, theory and models.
The University of Connecticut, 223 pp.
Branco, B., T. Torgersen, J. R. Bean, G. Grenier and D. Arbige,
2005. A new water column profiler for shallow aquatic systems.
Limnol. Oceanogr. Meth. 3: 190 – 202.
Chimney, M. J., L. Wenkert and K. C. Pietro, 2006. Patterns of
vertical stratification in a subtropical constructed wetland in
south Florida (USA). Ecological Engineering 27: 322 – 330.
Cole, J. J., Y. T. Prairie, W. H. Caraco, W. H. McDowell, L. J.
Tranvik, R. G. Striegl, C. M. Duarte, P. Kortelainen, J. A.
Dowining, J. J. Middleburg and J. Melack, 2007. Plumbing the
global carbon cycle: integrating inland waters into the terres-
trial carbon budget. Ecosystems 10: 172 – 185.
Condie, S. A. and I. T. Webster, 2001. Estimating stratification in
shallow water bodies from mean meteorological conditions. J.
Hydraul. Eng. 127: 286 – 292.
Culberson, S. D. and R. H. Piedrahita, 1996. Aquaculture pond
ecosystem model: Temperature and dissolved oxygen predic-
tion – mechanism and application. Ecological Modelling 89:
231 – 258.
Dale, H. M. and T. Gillepsie, 1976. The influence of floating
vascular plants on the diurnal fluctuations of temperature near
the water surface in early spring. Hydrobiologia 49: 245 – 256.
Downing, J. A., Y. T. Prairie, J. J. Cole, C. M. Duarte, L. J. Tranvik,
R. G. Striegl, W. H. McDowell, P. Kortelainen, N. F. Caraco, J.
M. Melack and J. J. Middelburg, 2006. The global abundance
and size distribution of lakes, ponds, and impoundments.
Limnol. Oceanogr. 51: 2388 – 2397.
Fee, E. J., R. E. Hecky, S. E. M. Kasian and D. R. Cruikshank, 1996.
Effects of lake size, water clarity, and climatic variability on
mixing depths in Canadian Shield lakes. Limnol. Oceanogr. 41:
912 – 920.
Ford, P. W., P. I. Boon and K. Lee, 2002. Methane and oxygen
dynamics in a shallow floodplain lake: the significance of
periodic stratification. Hydrobiologia 485: 97 – 110.
Ganf, G. G., 1974. Diurnal mixing and the vertical distribution of
phytoplankton in a shallow equatorial lake (Lake George,
Uganda). The Journal of Ecology 62: 611 – 629.
Gu, R., F. N. Luck and H. G. Stefan, 1996. Water quality
stratification in shallow wastewater stabilization ponds.
Water Res. Bull. 32: 831 – 844.
Henderson-Sellers, B., 1984. Engineering Limnology, Pitman
Advanced Publishing Program, Boston, 356 pp.
Henderson-Sellers, B., 1986. Calculating the surface energy
balance for lake and reservoir modeling: A review. Rev.
Geophys. 24: 625 – 649.
Herb, W. R. and H. G. Stefan, 2004. Temperature stratification and
mixing dynamics in a shallow lake with submersed macro-
phytes. Lake and Reservoir Management 20: 296 – 308.
Herb, W. R. and H. G. Stefan, 2005. Dynamics of vertical mixing in
a shallow lake with submersed macrophytes. Water Resour.
Res. 41: W02023.
Holloway, P. E., 1980. A criterion for thermal stratification in a
wind-mixed system. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 10: 861 – 869.
Imberger, J., 1985. The diurnal mixed layer. Limnol. Oceanogr. 30:
737 – 770.
Imberger, J., 2001. Lakes. In: A. H. E.-S. a. W. W. Piegorsch, The
Encyclopedia on Environmetrics, John Wiley & Sons Ltd,
pp. 1121 – 1130.
Jassby, A. and T. Powell, 1975. Vertical patterns of eddy diffusion
during stratification in Castle Lake, California. Limnol.
Oceanogr. 20: 530 – 543.
Jellison, R. and J. M. Melack, 1993. Meromixis in hypersaline Mono
Lake, California .1. Stratification and vertical mixing during
the onset, persistence, and breakdown of meromixis. Limnol.
Oceanogr. 38: 1008 – 1019.
Kim, J.-W., 1976. A generalized bulk model of the oceanic mixed
layer. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 6: 686 – 695.
Kraus, E. B. and J. S. Turner, 1967. A one-dimensional model of the
seasonal thermocline. II. The general theory and its conse-
quences. Tellus 19: 98 – 105.
MacIntyre, S., 1993. Vertical mixing in a shallow, eutrophic lake:
Aquat. Sci. Vol. 71, 2009
possible consequences for the light climate of phytoplankton.
Limnol. Oceanogr. 38: 798 – 817.
MacIntyre, S., J. R. Romero and G. W. Kling, 2002. Spatial-
temporal variability in surface layer deepening and lateral
advection in an embayment of Lake Victoria, East Africa.
Limnol. Oceanogr. 47: 656 – 671.
Maritorena, S., A. Morel and B. Gentili, 1994. Diffuse reflectance
of oceanic shallow waters: influence of water depth and bottom
albedo. Limnol. Oceanogr. 39: 1698 – 1703.
Mobley, C. D., 1994. Light and Water : Radiative Transfer in
Natural Waters Academic Press, San Diego, 592 pp.
Morris, D. P., H. Zagarese, C. E. Williamson, E. G. Balseiro, B. R.
Hargreaves, B. Modenutti, R. Moeller and C. Queimalinos,
1995. The attentuation of solar UV radiation in lakes and the
role of dissolved organic carbon. Limnol. Oceanogr. 40: 1381 –
1391.
Ohlmann, J. C., D. A. Siegel and C. D. Mobley, 2000. Ocean radiant
heating. Part I: optical influences. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 30: 1833 –
1848.
Panofsky, H. A. and J. A. Dutton, 1984. Atmospheric Turbulence :
Models and Methods for Engineering Applications, Wiley,
New York, 397 pp.
Raphael, J. M., 1962. Prediction of Temperature in Rivers and
Reservoirs. J. Power Div. Am. Soc. Civ. Eng. 88: 157 – 181.
Rubbert, S. and J. Kçngeter, 2005. Measurement and three-
dimensional simulation of flow in a shallow reservoir subject
to small-scale wind field inhomogeneities induced by shelter-
ing. Aquat. Sci. 67: 104 – 121.
Ryan, P. J., D. R. F. Harleman and K. D. Stolzenbach, 1974. Surface
heat loss from cooling ponds. Water Resour. Res. 10: 930 – 938.
Scheffer, M., S. H. Hosper, M.-L. Meijer, B. Moss and E. Jeppesen,
1993. Alternative equilibria in shallow lakes. Trends Ecol.
Evol. 8: 275 – 279.
To access this journal online:
http://www.birkhauser.ch/AS
Research Article 79
Scheffer, M., S. R. Carpenter, J. A. Foley, C. Folke and B. Walker,
2001. Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems. Nature 413: 591 – 596.
Sill, B. L., 1983. Free and forced convection effects on evaporation.
J. Hydraul. Eng. 109: 1216 – 1231.
Simpson, J. H. and J. R. Hunter, 1974. Fronts in the Irish Sea.
Nature 250: 404 – 406.
Simpson, J. H. and D. Bowers, 1981. Models of stratification and
frontal movement in the shelf seas. Deep-Sea Research 28:
727 – 738.
Simpson, J. H., C. M. Allen and N. C. G. Morris, 1978. Fronts on the
continental shelf. J. of Geophys. Res. 83: 4607 – 4614.
Smith, N. P., 2002. Observations and simulations of water-sediment
heat exchange in a shallow coastal lagoon. Estuaries 25: 483 –
487.
Smith, S. V., W. H. Renwick, J. D. Bartley and R. W. Buddemeier,
2002. Distribution and significance of small, artificial water
bodies across the United States landscape. Sci. Total Envi-
ron. 299: 21 – 36.
Sturman, J. J., C. E. Oldham and G. N. Ivey, 1999. Steady convective
exchange flows down slopes. Aquat. Sci. 61: 260 – 278.
Torgersen, T. and B. F. Branco, 2008. Carbon and oxygen fluxes
from a small pond: temporal variability and the CO2/O2
imbalance. Water Resour. Res., 44, W02417, doi:10.1029/
2006WR005634.
Westlake, D. F., 1964. Light extinction, standing crop and photo-
synthesis within weed beds. 15: 415 – 425.
Wetzel, R. G., 2001. Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems,
Academic Press, Boston, 1006 pp.
West, A. and A. Lorke, 2003. Small-scale hydrodynamics in lakes.
Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics 35: 373 – 412.