North Temperate Lakes LTER: High Frequency Water Temperature Data - Lake Mendota Buoy 2006 - current

The instrumented buoy on Lake Mendota is equipped with a thermistor chain that measures water temperature. In 2006, the thermistors were placed every 0.5m from the surface through 7m and every 1m from 7m to 15m. In 2007and 2008, the thermistors were placed every 0.5 m from the surface through 2m and every 1m from 2m to 20m. The sensor at the water surface is as close to the surface as feasible. The sensor housing itself is ~5cm long, so we have it at about 1 to 6cm deep.The Lake Mendota buoy is also equipped with a dissolved oxygen sensor and meteorological sensors that provide fundamental information on lake thermal structure, weather conditions, and lake metabolism. Data are collected every minute. After correcting for flux to or from the atmosphere and vertical mixing within the water column, high frequency measurements of dissolved gases such as carbon dioxide and oxygen can be used to estimate gross primary productivity, respiration, and net ecosystem productivity, the basic components of whole lake metabolism. Hourly and daily water temperature averages are computed from high resolution (1 minute) data. Hourly and daily values may not be current with high resolution data. Deployment dates: 2006: June 27-Oct 17; 2007: May 18-Oct 22; 2008: June 26-Nov 4; 2009: April 17-Nov 23; 2010: April 9-Nov 10; 2011: May 19-Nov 11; 2012: April 30-Nov 30; 2013: April 27-Oct 27; 2014: May 4-Oct 12; 2015: June 25-Sept 1; 2016: March 29-Dec 12; 2017: April 23 - Nov 13; 2018: April 11-Nov 15; 2019: April 16-Nov 11 Sampling Frequency: one minute. Number of sites: 1