Decades of water column temperature, lake level and meteorological data of Lake Lacawac, a pristine glacial lake at Lacawac Biological Field Station in the Pocono mountains, Pennsylvania USA (1992-2019)

Lake Lacawac weather and the lake water column were monitored to observe seasonal and interannual temperature and lake level patterns in response to solar heating, wind-driven water column mixing, precipitation, evaporation, watershed runoff and seepage, and outflow (L. Lacawac has an outflow stream but no inflow stream, and is surrounded on one side by peat bogs). Several studies have shown the lake to have a slow exchange by seepage (slightly more seeping in than out except during dry months). Over the years the raft data have been used to calibrate heat flux, mixing, and evaporation models for the lake, to study zooplankton and phytoplankton distribution and dissolved organic matter flux (photobleaching in the water column, influx from the watershed, and exchange with bottom sediments) and associated UV transparency. The data have also been used to accompany experimental manipulations of lake organisms (algae, zooplankton, fish) in relation to exposure to UV radiation. More recently these lake data have been useful in developing lake indices of climate change.