Cerknica Lake - Slovenia

Basic Information
Site Name
Cerknica Lake
Short name
Cerknica Lake
Country
Slovenia
Web Address
Notranjska Regional Park
Site Manager
Mitja Prelovšek
Alenka Gaberščik
Mateja Germ
Site Description
Lake Cerknica is intermittent lake appearing at the bottom of closed depression Cerkniško polje extending on the area of 38 km2. The karst features are associated with carbonate rock, both with limestone and dolomite. About 80 % of inflow consists of karst and only 15% of surface waters. The outflow is completely karstic. In spring and usually late in autumn the lake reaches normal level 550 m a.s.l., covering the area of 26 km2. Polje is flooded for 9 and dry for about 2 months, usually in summer. Lake Cerknica is a highly diverse ecosystem that changes in time and space. Vegetation pattern shows clear zonal distribution that depends on extent and frequency of flooding. The lake supports rich fauna with many endangered species, ...
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Last modified
2025-03-18 11:03:47

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2008
Observed properties
ecosystem parameterbiological parameterenvironmental parameterabovegroundnetprimaryproductiondisturbancepatternecosystemstructuregroundwaterlevelhabitatstructurelitterresidencetimemicrobialdiversityspeciesturnovervegetationreflectanceleafareanitrogencontentplantheightplanttranspirationabioticheterogeneity
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
ILTER✔This site is a verified "ILTER" member.
LTER Europe✔This site is a verified "LTER Europe" member.
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
LTER Slovenia✔ (LTER_EU_SI_002_002)This site is a verified "LTER Slovenia" member.
Projects
Natura 2000
eLTER catalogue
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Photos
Lake during extreme flood; Archive of Notranjska Regional Park
Lake during extreme flood; Archive of Notranjska Regional Park
Geographic
2 km
1 mi
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 45.7584152 Longitude: 14.3884455

Size
ca. 4878.50ha
Elevation (average)
546.00msl
Elevation (min)
536.00msl
Elevation (max)
551.00msl
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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
Mediterranean Bio-geographical Region
EUNIS habitat
Inland surface waters (C)
Inland surface waters (C) » Surface standing waters (C1)
Inland surface waters (C) » Surface standing waters (C1) » Temporary lakes, ponds and pools (C1.6)
Air Temperature: Average Annual
8.00°C
Precipitation Annual
1700.00mm
Geology
Lake Cerknica is an intermittent lake appearing at the bottom of Cerkni?ko polje. In the southern part of Slovenia runs a long depression in the NW - SE direction, from Ljubljana Swamp to the Kolpa River valley. In this depression, a series of karst poljes is located, Cerkni?ko polje being the largest among them. Depression has been formed along one of the most important tectonic lines in Slovenia, the Idrija fault. Cerkni?ko polje consists of carbonate rocks, Mesozoic limestones and dolomites. A part of the polje s bottom and the NE slopes are composed of less karstified Triassic dolomites. Other parts consist of Jurassic and Cretaceous limestones. Cerkni?ko polje itself lies about 40 m deep at the bottom of the depression, result of the corrosion. The Plesitocene climatic changes are reflected in the sedimentation and erosion of alluvial sediments.
Vegetation
Plant communities in the wider area of Cerkni?ko polje, i.e. in the area influenced by frequent floods or on its edge where floods occur only during extremely high waters, consist from aquatic, amphibious wetland communities and communities of mires and wet grasslands. Wood vegetation on the southern part of the lake consists from the association Omphalodo-Fagetum. Warmer sites are overgrown with submontane woodland Hacquetio-Fagetum var. geogr. Geranium nodosum. Sites with more extreme environmental conditions are covered with the associations Querco-Ostryetum and Genisto januensis-Pinetum sylvestris. The narrower area of Cerkni?ko polje is covered by grasslands, wetlands, bogs, etc.
Soils
Lake Cerknica is neither a lake neither a typical wetland. It is locus typicus for intermittent lakes and karts poljes. The succession of the ecosystem is continuously disturbed by the water level fluctuations, droughts and floods. These pulse disturbances present a physical factor, which is of vital importance for the lake, influencing the abiotic and biotic processes, i.e. mineral cycling and life histories, and productivity of organisms resulting in a variety of habitats and species.
Hydrology
Lake Cerknica belongs to the Ljubljanica river basin, which has pluvio-nival hydrological regime with slightly Mediterranian variation. Water is collected from the upstream lying karst poljes, from the surrounding karst plateaux, as well as directly from Cerkni?ko polje s rainfall. The catchment area of Lake Cerknica covers about 475 km2. The region receives about 1700 to 1800 mm of precipitation per year, with evapotranspiration reaching 750 mm. 80% of the lake´s inflow consists of karst waters, and 15% of surface waters. The outflow is completely karst-like, i.e. underground. For a little more than 9 months per year the polje´s floor is flooded, creating a lake, and for little more than 2 months it is dry.
Site Type
Stationary land-based site
Design of Experimentation
partly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
catchment scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
beyond catchment
Permanent Power Supply
No
Equipment
Data infrastructure » Data services » Other data services
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Proprietary file format
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Data transmission » Data Transmission Type (within site) » No within site data transmission
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
No
Access Type
boat
Permanent Operation
No
Site Visit Interval
365
Maintenance Interval
365
General Data Policy
Co-authorship on publications resulting from use of the dataset
Formal acknowledgement of the dataset providers
The opportunity to collaborate on the project using the dataset
LTER Site Classification
Regular
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.