Abstract

The fate of river water entering a lake remains an uncertainty in many important limnological questions. The questions that still need addressing include how water management practices can be improved and how lake ecosystems will change in future climate scenarios. I will describe a field campaign which investigated the transport and mixing of a river inlet into Lake Iseo, Italy. We observed the inflow to fall laterally after entering the lake. We suggest that this is caused by a lateral falling mechanism which occurs when the internal Froude number is slightly larger than unity. In addition, measurements of a range of tracers were taken to find the dilution of the river after it had started to intrude into the lake. Our results found self-consistent mixing rates from the available natural tracers. We will also discuss on-going laboratory experiments analogous to the underflow stage of the river inflow.