Lake Turnover Questions
Ranger
Posted 10/11/2014 2:26 PM (#734361)
Subject: Lake Turnover Questions





Posts: 3864


How do you know the turnover is happening? How long does it last and how do the fish behave? I've never understood this transition period. Thanks!
lehighmuskies
Posted 10/11/2014 3:27 PM (#734362 - in reply to #734361)
Subject: Re: Lake Turnover Questions




Posts: 348


As the days get shorter and cooler, and energy is transported away from/out of the lake, mixing becomes easier. At about 50*, the cooler water (with a higher oxygen content) at the surface begins to sink into and through the thermocline, forcing warmer and less dense water to the surface, eventually erasing the temperature stratification built up over the summer. At some point, the majority of the water in the lake reaches an approximately uniform temperature. Now, storms and sustained high winds can begin to perform the task of overturning and mixing all of the water in the lake -- referred to as fall turnover. The deep water contains an abundance of decaying matter and sulfurous gases; when it reaches the surface, it produces a telltale odor that indicates the process has begun. Eventually the turnover mixes fresh oxygen into the entire lake mass, replenishing the deep waters with the life-giving stuff and cleansing the sulfurous fumes from the water, allowing fish to return to the depths where they will spend the winter months.



Edited by lehighmuskies 10/11/2014 3:32 PM
muskie tamer
Posted 10/11/2014 4:02 PM (#734365 - in reply to #734361)
Subject: Re: Lake Turnover Questions





Posts: 411


Location: Waconia,MN
So what point is the lake at when the water becomes much clearer, like clear as it was at ice out?