Research Article

The increasing of maximum lake water temperature in lowland lakes of central Europe: case study of the Polish Lakeland

¹ Department of Hydrology and Water Management, Adam Mickiewicz University, B. Krygowskiego 10, 61-680 Poznań, Poland
² Institute of Land Improvement, Environmental Development and Geodesy, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Piątkowska 94, 60-649 Poznań, Poland
³ Department of Soil Science and Land Reclamation, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Piątkowska 94, 60-649 Poznań, Poland

^* Corresponding author: masojka@up.poznan.pl

Received: 12 October 2018
Accepted: 10 March 2019

Abstract

The paper presents the results of time-related changes in maximum temperatures in lakes. The analysis was carried out on the basis of 9 lakes located in the northern part of Poland. The analysis was based on daily water and air temperatures in the period 1971–2015. Mann–Kendall's and Sen's tests were applied to determine the directions and rates of change of maximum air and water temperatures. The average increase of maximum water temperature in analysed lakes was found to be 0.39 °C dec^–1, while the warming trend of the maximum air temperature was 0.48 °C dec^–1. Cluster analysis (CA) was used to group lakes characterised by similar changes of maximum water temperature. The first group included five lakes in which the values of the maximum temperature trends were 0.41 °C dec^–1. In the second cluster the average value of maximum water temperature increase was smaller than in the first cluster (0.36 °C dec^–1). Comparing the results of cluster analysis with morphometric data show that in the first cluster lakes are having a greater average depth, maximum depth and water transparency in comparison to the lakes of the second cluster.