Vertical Boundary Mixing Events during Stratification Govern Heat and Nutrient Dynamics in a Windy Tropical Reservoir Lake with Important Water-Level Fluctuations: A Long-Term (2001–2021) Study

Merino-Ibarra, Martín; Ramírez-Zierold, Jorge A.; Valdespino-Castillo, Patricia M.; Castillo-Sandoval, Fermin S.; Guzmán-Arias, Andrea P.; Barjau-Aguilar, Mariel; Monroy-Ríos, Emiliano; López-Gómez, Luz M.; Sacristán-Ramírez, Arantxa; Quintanilla-Terminel, José G.; González-De Zayas, Roberto; Jimenez-Contreras, Jorge; Valeriano-Riveros, María E.; Vilaclara-Fatjó, Gloria; Sánchez-Carrillo, Salvador

doi:10.3390/w13213011

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

...

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Vertical Boundary Mixing Events during Stratification Govern Heat and Nutrient Dynamics in a Windy Tropical Reservoir Lake with Important Water-Level Fluctuations: A Long-Term (2001–2021) Study

Unidad Académica de Ecología y Biodiversidad Marina, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City 4510, Mexico

Patronato ProValle de Bravo A.C., México City 51200, Mexico

Posgrado en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City 4510, Mexico

⁴

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MBIB Division, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

⁵

Department of Oceanography, College of Geosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA

⁶

Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica, Facultad de Ciencias Técnicas, Universidad de Ciego de Ávila, Carretera a Morón Km 9, Ciego de Ávila 65100, Cuba

⁷

Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City 4510, Mexico

⁸

Departamento de Biogeoquímica y Ecología Microbiana, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (MNCN-CSIC), Serrano 115 bis, E-28006 Madrid, Spain

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: Michael Twiss

Water 2021, 13(21), 3011; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213011

Received: 11 August 2021 / Revised: 5 October 2021 / Accepted: 20 October 2021 / Published: 27 October 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tropical Wetlands in a Changing World: Current Status and Future Perspectives)

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figures

Review Reports Citation Export

Abstract

Physical processes play important roles in controlling eutrophication and oligotrophication. In stratified lakes, internal waves can cause vertical transport of heat and nutrients without breaking the stratification, through boundary mixing events. Such is the case in tropical Valle de Bravo (VB) reservoir lake, where strong diurnal winds drive internal waves, boundary mixing, and hypolimnetic warming during stratification periods. We monitored VB during 21 years (2001–2021) when important water-level fluctuations occurred, affecting mixing and nutrient flux. Stability also varied as a function of water level. Hypolimnetic warming (0.009–0.028 °C day⁻¹) occurred in all the stratifications monitored. We analyzed temperature distributions and modeled the hypolimnion heat budget to assess vertical mixing between layers (0.639–3.515 × 10⁻⁶ m³ day⁻¹), vertical diffusivity coefficient K_Z (2.5 × 10⁻⁶–13.6 × 10⁻⁶ m² s⁻¹), and vertical nutrient transport to the epilimnion. Nutrient flux from the metalimnion to the epilimnion ranged 0.42–5.99 mg P m⁻²day⁻¹ for soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and 5.8–101.7 mg N m⁻²day⁻¹ for dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN). Vertical mixing and the associated nutrient fluxes increase evidently as the water level decreases 8 m below capacity, and they can increase up to fivefold if the water level drops over 12 m. The observed changes related to water level affect nutrient recycling, ecosystemic metabolic balance, and planktonic composition of VB. View Full-Text

Keywords: eutrophication; water management; hypolimnetic warming; boundary mixing; mixing events; internal waves; long-term series; Valle de Bravo; biogeochemistry; nutrient flux

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Merino-Ibarra, M.; Ramírez-Zierold, J.A.; Valdespino-Castillo, P.M.; Castillo-Sandoval, F.S.; Guzmán-Arias, A.P.; Barjau-Aguilar, M.; Monroy-Ríos, E.; López-Gómez, L.M.; Sacristán-Ramírez, A.; Quintanilla-Terminel, J.G.; González-De Zayas, R.; Jimenez-Contreras, J.; Valeriano-Riveros, M.E.; Vilaclara-Fatjó, G.; Sánchez-Carrillo, S. Vertical Boundary Mixing Events during Stratification Govern Heat and Nutrient Dynamics in a Windy Tropical Reservoir Lake with Important Water-Level Fluctuations: A Long-Term (2001–2021) Study. Water 2021, 13, 3011. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213011

AMA Style

Merino-Ibarra M, Ramírez-Zierold JA, Valdespino-Castillo PM, Castillo-Sandoval FS, Guzmán-Arias AP, Barjau-Aguilar M, Monroy-Ríos E, López-Gómez LM, Sacristán-Ramírez A, Quintanilla-Terminel JG, González-De Zayas R, Jimenez-Contreras J, Valeriano-Riveros ME, Vilaclara-Fatjó G, Sánchez-Carrillo S. Vertical Boundary Mixing Events during Stratification Govern Heat and Nutrient Dynamics in a Windy Tropical Reservoir Lake with Important Water-Level Fluctuations: A Long-Term (2001–2021) Study. Water. 2021; 13(21):3011. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213011

Chicago/Turabian Style

Merino-Ibarra, Martín, Jorge A. Ramírez-Zierold, Patricia M. Valdespino-Castillo, Fermin S. Castillo-Sandoval, Andrea P. Guzmán-Arias, Mariel Barjau-Aguilar, Emiliano Monroy-Ríos, Luz M. López-Gómez, Arantxa Sacristán-Ramírez, José G. Quintanilla-Terminel, Roberto González-De Zayas, Jorge Jimenez-Contreras, María E. Valeriano-Riveros, Gloria Vilaclara-Fatjó, and Salvador Sánchez-Carrillo. 2021. "Vertical Boundary Mixing Events during Stratification Govern Heat and Nutrient Dynamics in a Windy Tropical Reservoir Lake with Important Water-Level Fluctuations: A Long-Term (2001–2021) Study" Water 13, no. 21: 3011. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213011

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

Vertical Boundary Mixing Events during Stratification Govern Heat and Nutrient Dynamics in a Windy Tropical Reservoir Lake with Important Water-Level Fluctuations: A Long-Term (2001–2021) Study

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI