Lake Stechlin in Brandenburg. | Photo: Thomas Gonsiorczyk
Lake Stechlin is a deep, dimictic lake in northeastern Germany known for its exceptionally clear water. Although located in a forested catchment, the lake has undergone major changes in recent decades, including a period of massive heating of surface water when receiving cooling water from a nearby nuclear power plant (1966–1990), accompanied by a greatly shortened water residence time from more than 40 years to less than 300 days. These changes are superimposed by a long-term trend of surface water warming and a concomitant decrease in winter ice cover. Total phosphorus concentrations have quadrupled since 2010 and zones of deep-water oxygen depletion have greatly expanded.
The presented dataset covers basic water-chemical and physical records taken at monthly to fortnightly intervals from 1970 to 2020, documenting limnological changes during that period. “This is a valuable basis for other researchers to assess and project potential consequences of climate change and other types of environmental change on deep clearwater lakes in temperate climate zones”, said IGB researcher Dr. Sabine Wollrab, first author of the study.
The data can be accessed on FRED
The data are available via the Freshwater Research and Environmental Database (FRED), hosted by IGB. The dataset is split into three data packages: (1) Secchi depth and data of vertical profiles recorded with multiparameter probes, (2) water-chemical data determined spectrophotometrically or by other methods, and (3) anion and cation concentrations determined by ion chromatography. The three data packages have each been assigned a DOI and include metadata along with a data file in csv format. Over time, the datasets and the corresponding metadata have been updated. This is visible from different DOI versions, which are all visible and interlinked in FRED. Changes to previous versions are documented in the log file at the end of the metadata associated with each version.
