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Oxygen Levels Lab

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Results During this lab the temperature and Oxygen levels were measured at a multitude of depths. The temperature at 0 meters was 27.26 °C. The temperature reading was then done at 1 meter below was 27.2 °C. The Temperature than began to drop constantly until about 10 meters down where the temperature was at 10.09°C. From this point the temperature dropped less dramatically until settling on 7 degree range. The lowest Temperature was at the bottom of the lake being 22 meters deep with a temperature at 7.35°C (figure 1). The oxygen levels demonstrated a slightly different graph than the temperature. The oxtengen levels started at 11.84 mg/L. This saturation level rose for the next 2 meters peaking at 11.6 mg/L. Within a few meters the oxygen level dropped to 5.1 mg/L at 5 meters deep, at 6 meters the oxygen …show more content…

During the summer, the lake becomes stratified as the surface becomes unequally heated by sun. The way this works is by heating the surface by the sun. The wind then moves the surface of the water to recycle the water. During the summer, the colder dense water falls to the bottom of the lake and does not become apart of the mixing process. Secondly, the heat from the sun can only go so far down and penetrate only a select few meters of the lake. The total depth of the lake that can be affect depends on how clear the lake water is. During the spring and fall, the lake will undergo a period of turnover where there is equal temperature throughout the lake and the water and nutrients move more freely when the wind blows across the surface of the lake. This is the result of the cooling or warming of the water to equal temperature, thereby creating a equal density throughout the lake. This would mean the associated dissolved oxygen would become less stratified as a result of the moving of

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