Temporal and spatial scales of lake processes. Part 2: Interaction of physical and ecological scales and application of scaling concepts to Greek lakes

Abstract

The temporal and spatial scaling concepts related to basic physical and ecological lake processes and the associated non-dimensional parameters that govern the various flow regimes, developed in lakes and reviewed in Part 1 of our companion paper (Papadimitrakis, 2011), are applied to lakes Pamvotis and Vegoritis, two water enclosures located in the Northern Greece having different bathymetry and morphology and forced by dissimilar external conditions. This paper begins with a description of the interaction of physical and biological processes in lakes (the latter being described in Part 1) and proceeds with the application of scaling concepts to the above lakes. From these two applications, several interesting conclusions are drawn by comparing the similarities and differences shown in the variation, with time, of these important scales and non-dimensional parameters and how the latter affect the various lake flow regimes. © 2011 Global NEST Printed in Greece. All rights reserved.