What we're doing & why

Monitoring activies

Water temperature data are collected on all of the sentinel lakes year around. We deploy data sensors that collect temperature data every hour within the water column. The depth of these sensors varies from lake to lake.

For some lakes, these data are collected at only a single depth, while other lakes have long chains of temperature sensors deployed at different depths throughout the entire water column. These sensor chains allow us to determine when and how long a lake stratifies, how strong the stratification is, and other water temperature related metrics.

Because most fish species have specific temperature habitat requirements, these data are important in understanding how these habitats are changing at both short- and long-term timescales. Additionally, temperature metrics relate to many other physical, chemical and biological processes that occur in lakes and help us gain greater knowledge about what is going on in Minnesota's lakes.

Sentinel lake water levels are measured using underwater pressure transducers. These sensors measure the depth of the water based upon the pressure of the surrounding water. These measurements are then rectified to a known lake level staff gauge reading by sentinel lakes staff and passed on to staff in the DNR Ecological and Water Resources Division for rectification to sea level.


Remote sensing

 

Additional sampling

Fish sampling

Data management

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