Lake George Association: April 2012 Archives

Spring is here on Lake George -- we can see what's happening on the shore with the trees, and hear what's happening with the birds and frogs. But what's happening within the Lake itself?

In the winter the lake water remains at a fairly consistent temperature from top to bottom. The temperature range is very small, but important. The less dense water freezes on the surface at 0°C (32°F), forming ice. The water actually becomes warmer nearer the lake bottom. In a deep lake like Lake George, the bottom water temperature is 4°C, the densest water.

During spring turnover, several forces are at work, mixing the entire water column. The sun, wind, currents, tributaries and groundwater all join together to mix the huge volume of water. As in fall turnover, nutrients are again mixed throughout the water column. This cycle repeats every year. Without this mixing, a lake can become stagnant, causing water quality to decline.

Thermal layering occurs during the summer months. The warm June sun heats the top layer of water to temperatures of 21°C to 27°C (70°F to 80°F).

Thermal layers, layers of temperature in the Lake, support various animal and plant species and contribute to the ecosystem as a whole. Trout and salmon need cold-water temperatures in order to survive. Bass, perch, and sunfish can live in much warmer waters and need the support of plants and rocky shores for cover and food supply.

Diving into the deeper parts of the Lake during the summer can be a chilling reminder that the warm summer rays of the sun fail to reach the bottom. The cold, dense water remains separated from the warm upper water by a barrier. This barrier, called the thermocline, is where temperatures change rapidly between the warm surface water and the colder deep water. In the summer on Lake George, the thermocline is around 10 meters.

Credits: Text adapted from New Hampshire DES: Interactive Lake Ecology

One of our most important initiatives here at the LGA is to create the lake stewards of the future. We do whatever we can to instill in our young people a love and appreciation for the unique qualities of Lake George, and to teach people what they can do to keep the Lake (and any water body for that matter) as healthy, vibrant and beautiful as it can be.

The biggest way we do this of course, is on the LGA Floating Classroom. We also go out to schools, and offer stream monitoring workshops for students.

One other important way: teach the teachers!

On March 27 the LGA partnered with other members of the Champlain Watershed
Improvement Coalition of New York (CWICNY) to provide a free teacher workshop for 3rd - 5th grade teachers.

The workshop, called Project WET, gave participants a "Treasure Chest" filled with $150 worth of teaching materials for their classrooms. Funding for the workshop and Treasure Chests was provided by International Paper.

Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) is a nationally syndicated program that helps integrate fun, innovative, hand-on activities into existing science and math curricula.

The program provides a fresh approach for educators, helping them teach water quality concepts, such as:

- the physical and chemical characteristics of water;
- adhesion of water molecules;
- the water cycle;
- how water resources are managed;
- water usage; and
- the effects of water pollution on aquatic plants and animals.

The workshops provide the classroom supplies needed to conduct five of the Project WET activities. Teachers don't need to spend money out of their own budgets.

In-class activities from Project WET can stand alone as lessons, or can be used as pre-field trip lessons before students go out on the LGA Floating Classroom.

If you would like to inquire about an upcoming Project WET teacher training, please contact Beth Gilles, the president of CWICNY, at (518) 668-5773 or bgilles_rpb@verizon.net.