Windermere - United Kingdom

Basic Information
Site Name
Windermere
Short name
L04
Country
United Kingdom
Web Address
ECN website
Windermere on UK Lakes Portal
Operating Organisation
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)
Site Manager
Heidrun Feuchtmayr
Site Description
UK ECN site. Windermere is in NW England in the English Lake District, an area of great natural beauty and a tourist destination since the 18th century. The dominant geological structure of the Lake District is a dome of Paleozoic rocks formed by uplift in the Tertiary producing a radial drainage pattern later enhanced during the Pleistocene glaciation, with major lakes occupying bedrock basins in steep-sided, flat-floored valleys. Windermere is the largest natural lake in England with a surface area of 14.8km2 and altitude of only 40m. The lake is divided by a shallow sill into two basins; North Basin (NB) (surface area c. 8km2, maximum depth 64m) and South Basin (SB) (surface area c. 6.7km2, maximum depth 42m). Windermere (ECN ...
Show more ...
Last modified
2023-07-28 10:07:11

CC-BY-NC Logo

General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1994
Observed properties
water parameterecosystem parameterchemical parameterbiological parameterchlorophyllcontentofwaterdissolvedorganicphosphoruslaketemperatureoxygensaturationsecchidepthwateraciditywateralkalinitywaterdepthwaterqualitywatertemperaturewatertransparencyalgaespeciesabundancealgaespeciespresencebenthicinvertebratesabundancebenthicinvertebratespresenceinorganicnutrientcontentphytoplanktonabundancespeciesabundancespeciespresencezooplanktonabundanceammoniumcontentammoniumnitrogencontentdissolvednutrientdissolvedorganiccarboninwatersuspendedsolidstotalorganiccarbonnitrogencontent
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
ILTER✔This site is a verified "ILTER" member.
LTER Europe✔This site is a verified "LTER Europe" member.
UK ECN✔ (LTER_EU_UK_004)This site is a verified "UK ECN" member.
Projects
eLTER (H2020)
eLTER catalogue
Photos
Sampling in Windermere
Sampling in Windermere
Geographic
5 km
5 mi
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 54.3833 Longitude: -2.95

Size
ca. 1480.00ha
Elevation (average)
395.00msl
Elevation (min)
40.00msl
Elevation (max)
750.00msl
Related location(s)
Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]
Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]
GEO-BON Biome
Fresh water lakes
Biome
Fresh Water Lakes
Ecosystem Type
Lakes
Fresh Water Lakes
Biogeographical Region
Atlantic Bio-geographical Region
EUNIS habitat
Inland surface waters (C)
Air Temperature: Average Annual
7.44°C
Precipitation Annual
2290.50mm
Geology
The dominant geological structure of the Lake District is a dome of Paleozoic rocks formed by uplift in the Tertiary. This uplift produced a radial drainage pattern which was enhanced during the Pleistocene glaciation, with the major lakes occupying bedrock basins in steep-sided, flat-floored valleys.
Hydrology
Largest natural lake in England. Surface area: 14.8km2. Divided by a shallow sill into two basins; the North Basin (surface area: 8km2; maximum depth: 64m and the South Basin (surface area: 6.7km2; maximum depth: 42m). The North basin (which is the ECN sampling site) has a catchment of 180km2 which drains into the lake via two main rivers, several small tarns (lakes) and several streams. The catchment is mainly hill land, grazed by sheep throughout the year but also used intensively for recreational purposes. The villages in the valleys are major tourist destinations with consequent increases in the sewage input to the lake. Over the past 50 years levels of dissolved reactive phosphorus in the lake have more than doubled, reaching their highest levels in the 1980s. The effluent discharged into the North Basin of Windermere from the main sewage works is now phosphate stripped in an effort to reduce the nutrient loading to the lake.
Protection Level (IUCN category)
Category V – Protected Landscape/Seascape/Area
Site Type
Stationary land-based site
Design of Experimentation
partly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
plot scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
plot within catchment
Permanent Power Supply
No
Equipment
Observation devices » Marine Platform
Data infrastructure » Data services » Data portal
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Paper
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Structured file
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Relational database
Supporting infrastructure » Lodging at site » Unknown number of beds
Equipment notes
For 'Measuring tower' read 'Automated buoy'. See: http://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/uk-lake-ecological-observatory-network-ukleon. There is accommodation nearby
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
Yes
Access Type
boat
Permanent Operation
Yes
Operation Notes
ECN freshwater monitoring is carried out at least once per month, if not more frequently. This lake also has an automated monitoring buoy which is serviced on a fortnightly basis.
Site Visit Interval
30
Maintenance Interval
14
Data Policy URL
http://data.ecn.ac.uk/datapolicy.asp
LTER Site Classification
Regular
Related Resources on DEIMS-SDR
1 dataset(s) in total:
Windermere: UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) water temperature 1994-2004
There is EURO-CORDEX climate scenario data available for this site:
Projected Near Surface Specific Humidity ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Precipitation ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Sea Level Pressure ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Surface Downwelling Shortwave RadiationRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Wind SpeedRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85

You can also download the entire climate scenario dataset for this site from the EUDAT B2SHARE data store.