Lake Ladoga: Life under ice – Interplay of under-ice processes by global change.
The research program aims at investigating life under ice and relevant physical, chemical and biological processes. In particular, we would like to understand under-ice convections and its implication for ecosystem development. For this, four sub-projects will measure physical and biological parameters simultaneously under-ice. Instruments will be set on a mooring during the entire winter period. During the ice-covered period, traditional methods will be applied from ice holes. In addition, automatic underwater vehicles will allow to horizontally map the convection structures, and remote sensing from drones will identify spatial heterogeneity of the ice cover. The functioning of the ecosystem will be further investigated by analysing phytoplankton, zooplankton and bacteria, as well as C transfer throughout the trophic system. Carbon dioxide accumulation and carbon cycling throughout the winter period will be assessed. The reconstruction of land use history in the catchment area will be explained using short sediment cores.
Funding: Russian and Swiss NSF – 2015/01/01 to 2018/12/31