Eutrophication in the High Arctic — Meretta Lake, Cornwallis Island (75° N Lat.)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Sewage from the Department of Transport Airport Base at Resolute Bay has caused increases in phytoplankton standing crop, changes in algal species composition, oxygen depletion, and disappearance of Limnocalanus in Meretta Lake. The annual cycles of chemical and physical events associated with these changes are described. Minimum annual input of phosphorus to Meretta Lake was 0.24–0.29 g/m2 of lake surface per year in 1971, with 66–80% supplied by sewage. Nitrogen input was 0.55–0.78 g/m2 during the same year, with 41 to 58% from sewage. Results show that severe eutrophication problems may be expected to develop in response to high nutrient inputs, even at arctic latitudes. Arctic lakes, which are sealed under ice for several months of the year, appear to be particularly vulnerable to increased oxygen depletion which accompanies eutrophication.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: