Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An Upwelling Event at Onondaga Lake, NY: Characterization, Impact and Recurrence*

  • Published:
Hydrobiologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The occurrence, features and impacts on oxygen resources of an upwelling event in culturally eutrophic Onondaga Lake, NY, are documented, and recurrence is investigated, based on data collected as part of long-term, robotic, and event monitoring programs. The upwelling event occurred on September 11, 2002, in response to a wind event of average wind speed of ∼10 m s−1 that extended over an interval of 11 hours along the main axis of the lake. Longitudinal differences in temperature (T) and dissolved oxygen (DO) documented for the lake's surface waters during the upwelling event were 5.7 °C and 10 mg l−1. DO concentrations <1 mg l−1 were observed in surface waters at the windward end of the lake. Oxidation of reduced oxygen-demanding by-products of anaerobic metabolism supplied to the upper waters from stratified layers during the event contributed to a loss of DO from the lake. Review of historic lake stratification, water quality related to oxygen resources, and long-term wind data indicate upwelling events with coupled deleterious impacts on DO resources have not been rare; at least 14 such events are estimated to have occurred over the 1990–2002 interval. The documented event probably represents a worst case for oxygen impacts for this period. An underway rehabilitation program, that will reduce anthropogenic phosphorus loading and implement hypolimnetic oxygenation, may ameliorate the impacts of upwelling events on the DO resources of the lake.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Addess, J. M. & S. W. Effler, 1996. Summer methane fluxes and fall oxygen resources of Onondaga Lake, New York. Lake and Reserv. Manage. 12: 91–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bretts, K. S., 1998. Technology Update-All-weather water quality monitor. Environ. Sci. Technol. 32: 85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, C. T. & F. J. Millero, 1977. Precise equation of state for seawater covering only the oceanic range of salinity, temperature and pressure. Deep Sea Res. 24: 365–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, G. A., 1994. Textbook of Limnology. Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL., 412 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiToro, D. M., P. R. Paquin, K. Subburamu & D. A. Gruber, 1990. Sediment oxygen demand model: methane and ammonia oxidation. J. Environ. Engrg. Div. ASCE 116: 945–986.

    Google Scholar 

  • Effler, S. W., 1996. Limnological and Engineering Analysis of a Polluted Urban Lake. Prelude to Environmental Management of Onondaga Lake, New York. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Effler, S. W. & E. M. Owens, 1996. Density stratification in Onondaga Lake: 1968-1994. Lake and Reserv. Manage. 12: 25–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Effler, S. W., C. M. Brooks & K. A. Whitehead, 1996. Domestic waste inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus to Onondaga Lake, and water quality implications. Lake and Reserv. Manage. 12: 127–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Effler, S. W., J. P. Hassett, M. T. Auer & N. A. Johnson, 1988. Depletion of epilimnetic oxygen, and accumulation of hydrogen sulfide in the hypolimnion of Onondaga Lake, NY, USA. Water, Air and Soil Pollutiob 39: 59–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Effler, S. W., S. M. O'Donnell, D. A. Matthews, C. M. Matthews, D. M. O'Donnell, M. T. Auer & E. M. Owens, 2002a. Limnological and loading information and a phosphorus total maximum daily load analysis for Onondaga Lake. Lake and Reserv. Manage. 18: 87–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Effler, S. W., D. M. O'Donnell & C. J. Owen, 2002b. America's most polluted lake: Monitoring rehabilitation with computer-driven robots. J. Urban Technol. 9: 21–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Effler, S. W., M. G. Perkins & C. M. Brooks, 1986. The oxygen resources of the hypolimnion of ionically enriched Onondaga Lake, NY, USA. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 29: 93–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fendinger, N. J. & D. D. Adams, 1986. A headspace equilibrium technique for measurement of dissolved gases in sediment pore water. Internat. J. Anal. Chem. 23: 253–265.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, H. B., E. J. List, J. Imberger, R. C. Koh & N. H. Brooks, 1979. Mixing in Inland and Coastal Waters. Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford, D. E. & L. S. Johnson, 1986. An assessment of reservoir mixing processes. Technical Report E-86-7, prepared by Ford, Thornton, Norton and Associates, Ltd., US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Miss.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gächter, R., 1987. Lake restoration. Why oxygenation and artificial mixing cannot substitute for a decrease in the external phosphorus loading. Schweiz. Z. Hydrol. 49: 170–185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelda, R. K. & M. T. Auer, 1996. Development and testing of a dissolved oxygen model for a hypereutrophic lake. Lake and Reserv. Manage. 12: 165–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelda, R. K. & S. W. Effler, 2002a. Metabolic rate estimates for a hypereutrophic lake from diel dissolved oxygen signals. Hydrobiologia 485: 51–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelda, R. K. & S. W. Effler, 2002b. Estimating oxygen exchange across the air-water interface of a hypereutrophic lake. Hydrobiologia 487: 243–254.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelda, R. K., M. T. Auer & S. W. Effler, 1995. Determination of sediment oxygen demand by direct measurements and by inference from reduced species accumulation. Mar. Freshwat. Res. 46: 81–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelda, R. K., M. T. Auer, S. W. Effler, S. C. Chapra & M. L. Storey, 1996. Determination of reaeration coefficients: A whole lake approach. J. Environ. Engrg. Div. ASCE 122: 269–275.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson, G. E., 1957. A Treatise of Limnology Vol. I. Geography, Physics and Chemistry. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson, G. E., 1973. Eutrophication: the scientific background of a contemporary practical problem. Am. Sci. 61: 269–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jannasch, H. W., 1975. Methane oxidation in Lake Kivu (central Africa). Limnol. Oceanogr. 20: 860–864.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jassby, A. & T. M. Powell, 1975. Vertical patterns of eddy diffusion during stratification in Castle Lake, California. Limnol. Oceanogr. 20: 530–543.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jorgensen, B. B., 1977. The sulfur cycle of a coastal marine sediment (Limfjorden Denmark). Limnol. Oceanogr. 22: 814–832.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J. L. & S. C. McCutcheon, 1999. Hydrodynamics and Transport for Water Quality Modeling. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL, 794 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, D. A., S. W. Effler, C. M. Matthews (Brooks), C. A. Siegfried & M. E. Spada, 2001. Responses of Onondaga Lake, New York, to early stages of rehabilitation: Unanticipated ecosystem feedbacks. Wat. Environ. Res. 73: 691–703.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monismith, S.C., 1986. An experimental study of the upwelling response of stratified reservoirs to surface shear stress. J. Fluid Mech. 171: 407–429.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortimer, C. H., 1941. The exchange of dissolved substances between mud and water in lakes. Parts I and II. J. Ecology 29: 280–329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortimer, C. H., 1942. The exchange of dissolved substances between mud and water in lakes (Parts III and IV, summary, and references). J. Ecology 30: 147–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortimer, C. H., 1952. Water movements in lakes during summer stratification: Evidence from the distribution of temperature in Windermere. Trans. R. Soc. London Ser. B 236: 353–404.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortimer, C. H., 1961. Motion in thermoclines. Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 14: 79–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Connor, D. J., 1983. Wind effects on gas-liquid transfer coefficients. J. Environ. Engrg. Div. ASCE 109: 731–752.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owens, E. M. & S. W. Effler, 1989. Changes in stratification in Onondaga Lake, NY. Wat. Resour. Bull. 25: 587–597.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owens, E. M. & S. W. Effler, 1996. Hydrodynamics and Transport. In Effler, S. W. (ed.), Limnological and Engineering Analysis of a Polluted Urban Lake. Prelude to Environmental Management of Onondaga Lake, New York. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY: 200–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prepas, E. E. & J. M. Burke, 1997. Effects of hypolimnetic oxygenation on water quality in Amisk Lake, Alberta, a deep eutrophic lake with high internal phosphorus loading rates. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 54: 2111–2120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, A. & D. Scavia, 1984. North American Great Lakes. In Taub, F. B. (ed.), Ecosystems of the World, Vol. 23, Lakes and Reservoirs. Elsevier, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowell, C., 1996. Paleolimnology of Onondaga Lake: The history of anthropogenic impacts on lake water quality. Lake and Reserv. Manage. 12: 35–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudd, J. W., R. D. Hamilton & N. E. Campbell, 1974. Measurement of microbial oxidation of methane in lake water. Limnol. Oceanogr. 19: 519–524.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudd, J. W. & C. D. Taylor, 1980. Methane cycling in aquatic environments. Adv. Aquatic Microbiol. 2: 77–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stauffer, R. E., 1980. Windpower time series above a temperate lake. Limnol. Oceanogr. 25: 513–528.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stromquist, V. K., 1996. Sediment oxygen demand as a manifestation of organic carbon diagenesis in the sediments of Onondaga Lake, Syracuse, NY. Master thesis. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, 55pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sweerts, J. P., M. J. Bar-Gilissen, A. A. Corneleses & T. E. Cappenburg, 1991. Oxygen consuming processes at the profundal and littoral sediment-water interface of a small meso-eutrophic lake (Lake Vechtan, The Netherlands). Limnol. Oceanogr. 36: 1124–1133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tango, P. J. & N. H. Ringler, 1996. The role of pollution and external refugia in structuring the Onondaga Lake fish community. Lake and Reserv. Manage. 12: 81–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vollenweider, R. A., 1975. Input-output models, with special reference to the phosphorus loading concept in limnology. Schweiz. Z. Hydrol. 37: 53–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vollenweider, R. A., 1982. Eutrophication of waters: Monitoring, assessment and control. Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wetzel, R. G., 2001. Limnology: Lake and Reservoir Ecosystems. Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, F. M., 1998. Fluid Mechanics, 4th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wodka, M. C., S. W. Effler, C. T. Driscoll, S. D. Field & S. D. Devan, 1983. Diffusivity-based flux of phosphorus in Onondaga Lake. J. Environ. Engrg. Div. ASCE 109: 1403–1415.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Upstate Freshwater Institute, P.O. Box 506, Syracuse, NY, 13214, U.S.A

    Steven W. Effler, Bruce A. Wagner, Susan M. O'Donnell, David A. Matthews, Rakesh K. Gelda & Carol M. Matthews

  2. Innovative Engineering & Technology, 307 Wedgewood Terrace, Dewitt, NY, 13214, U.S.A

    David M. O'Donnell

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 220 Hollister Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853-3501, U.S.A

    Edwin A. Cowen

Authors
  1. Steven W. Effler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bruce A. Wagner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Susan M. O'Donnell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. David A. Matthews
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. David M. O'Donnell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Rakesh K. Gelda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Carol M. Matthews
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Edwin A. Cowen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Effler, S.W., Wagner, B.A., O'Donnell, S.M. et al. An Upwelling Event at Onondaga Lake, NY: Characterization, Impact and Recurrence* . Hydrobiologia 511, 185–199 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HYDR.0000014040.88372.82

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HYDR.0000014040.88372.82

Search

Navigation