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Physics of Lakes pp 315–353Cite as

Observation and Analysis of Internal Seiches in the Southern Basin of Lake of Lugano

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Part of the book series: Advances in Geophysical and Environmental Mechanics and Mathematics ((AGEM,volume 2))

Abstract

As mentioned already earlier in Chap. 15, Lake of Lugano is a lake system consisting of two large basins and a pond of much smaller size, all connected to one another. In fact, the discharge of the water masses is from the 15 km long Northern basin through the channel of Melide into the roughly S-shaped 17-km long Southern basin and from there through the 500-m long channel of Lavena into the small pond at Ponte Tresa, see Fig. 18.1. The barotropic response of the two large basins has been separately studied as has this response of the lake system as a whole. In the Southern basin, three limnigraphs, positioned at Riva San Vitale, Morcote and Agno, recorded in February 1982 water elevation oscillations with periods of 28 min and less, that could be identified with the eigenperiods of the surface seiches with amplitudes of less than 5 cm. In a further campaign in 1984, current meters were installed in the Channels of Melide and Lavena and it was found that two further longer periodic eigenoscillations were excited which were not discernible in the limnigraph records and could be interpreted as the eigenvalues of the barotropic oscillations of the lake system acting as a coupled (Helmholtz-type) resonator. The structure of the eigenmodes, i.e. the distribution of the surface elevation was relatively simple. As the eigenfrequencies (periods) increased (decreased) the eigenmodes went from simple to complex with the number of nodal lines increasing by one with each higher order mode. Qualitatively this behaviour is akin to that of a rectangular basin with constant depth, so that interpretation of the data by means of theoretical modelling is easy. Deviations of the eigenperiods and structures of the eigenfunctions from those of the rectangle are due to the bathymetry and nothing else.

This chapter closely follows the article Stocker et al. [33]. When this paper was written Prof. C.H. Mortimer read its first version and, apart from correcting our English wording, gave advise for improvement.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This chapter closely follows the article Stocker et al. [33]. When this paper was written Prof. C.H. Mortimer read its first version and, apart from correcting our English wording, gave advise for improvement.

  2. 2.

    What is meant here is the baroclinic response beyond the two-layer response. At mid summer stratification the epilimnion depth is 12 m. With a mean depth of 70 m and a relative density difference \(\Delta \rho /\rho = 2.5 \times 1{0}^{-3}\) and \(f = 1.55 \times 1{0}^{-5}\) (s − 1) for ϕ = 42 ∘ , the two-layer internal, Rossby radius of deformation is

    $$\begin{array}{rcl}{ R}_{\mathrm{int}}^{(2)} = \sqrt{g{h}_{\mathrm{eq } } \frac{\Delta \rho } {\rho }} \bigg{/}f = 3,559\,\mathrm{m},\quad {h}_{\mathrm{eq}} = \frac{{h}_{1}{h}_{2}} {{h}_{1} + {h}_{2}}.& & \\ \end{array}$$

    This is larger than the lake width almost everywhere. An analogous estimate for a three-layer model shows that

    $$\begin{array}{rcl}{ R}_{\mathrm{int}}^{(3)} \simeq 1,000\,\mathrm{m},& & \\ \end{array}$$

    which is slightly less than typical half-widths of the lake. So, the rotation of the Earth can be ignored.

  3. 3.

    This statement is correct if the higher baroclinic modes due to the diffusive thermocline are meant and separate density interfaces due to chemically induced layering are not present. In Chap. 15 (Higher order baroclinicity (I)), it was shown that for the Northern basin of the Lake of Lugano large chemocline elevations occurred with only small amplitudes of the thermocline displacements. In the Southern basin of Lake of Lugano no separate chemocline was recorded.

  4. 4.

    Similar measurements were also performed in lakes with more compact shapes, e.g. Lake Banyoles [26,  27]; Lake Biwa [28,  20]; Lake Kinneret [1,  2] and others.

  5. 5.

    This discussion is based on the assumption that effects of the rotation of the Earth can be ignored. In this case, static nodal lines replace the amphidromes.

  6. 6.

    A TVDC-model, in which the epilimnion and hypolimnion layers are bounded by their own shore lines would improve on this, but this was not pursued here.

  7. 7.

    For these and further applications, see Chap. 14.

  8. 8.

    See Volume I, Chap. 10.

  9. 9.

    This is an instrument constructed by the workshop of the Versuchsanstalt für Wasserbau, Hydrologie and Glaziologie at ETH Zürich (VAW).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. c/o Versuchsanstalt für Wasserbau Hydrologie und Glaziologie ETH-Zentrum, ETH Zürich, Gloriastr. 37/39, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    Prof. Dr. Kolumban Hutter

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Darmstadt University of Technology, Petersenstr. 30, 64287, Darmstadt, Germany

    PD. Dr. Yongqi Wang (Chair of Fluid Dynamics)

  3. P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, prospect Mira 1, 236000, Kaliningrad, Russia

    Dr. Irina P. Chubarenko

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  1. Prof. Dr. Kolumban Hutter
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Correspondence to Kolumban Hutter .

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Hutter, K., Wang, Y., Chubarenko, I.P. (2011). Observation and Analysis of Internal Seiches in the Southern Basin of Lake of Lugano. In: Physics of Lakes. Advances in Geophysical and Environmental Mechanics and Mathematics, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19112-1_18

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