Hydrometeorological and climatic control over lake phytoplankton: the importance of time scales

Abstract

In the present thesis we focus on the two extremes of the wind speed – storms and atmospheric stilling – and analyse their impacts on lake environments and phytoplankton dynamics over short and long periods. As we realised the importance of the time scale in the context of our wind effect studies, we decided to have a closer look at other environmental data in the Lake Võrtsjärv database addressing the questions how the variability in environmental factors (thermal, wind, light- and water-level regimes) and phytoplankton variables is partitioned among different time scales from days to decades and whether matching shares can help to determine the leading factors responsible for phytoplankton dynamics.