Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) is an international

grass-roots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

, voluntary

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

of researchers, educators, and community groups interested in making and utilizing

time series In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. Exa ...

high-frequency High frequency (HF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) between 3 and 30 megahertz (MHz). It is also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as its wavelengths range from one to ten ...

observations made on and in

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s and reservoirs all over the world. GLEON includes more than 60 lake observatories and more than 850 individual members from 62 countries on six continents (as of January 2021).

Goals

The goal is to understand, predict, and communicate the impact of natural and anthropogenic influences on lake and reservoir ecosystems. The researchers include limnologists,

ecologists This is a list of notable ecologists. A-D * John Aber (USA) * Aziz Ab'Saber (Brazil) * Charles Christopher Adams (USA) * Warder Clyde Allee (USA) * Herbert G. Andrewartha (Australia) * Sarah Martha Baker ( UK) * Fakhri A. Bazzaz (USA) * Joh ...

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

experts, and

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

who have a common objective of building and growing a scalable, persistent network of

lake ecology A lake ecosystem or lacustrine ecosystem includes biotic (living) plants, animals and micro-organisms, as well as abiotic (non-living) physical and chemical interactions. Lake ecosystems are a prime example of lentic ecosystems (''lentic'' ref ...

observatories; developing new theoretical models based on the more extensive spatial and temporal scales of data; integrating new technologies to utilize the data; educating a new generation of researchers in team science; and engaging the public. Each lake or reservoir observatory consists of one or more instrumented platforms capable of sensing key

limnological Limnology ( ; from Greek λίμνη, ''limne'', "lake" and λόγος, ''logos'', "knowledge") is the study of inland aquatic ecosystems. The study of limnology includes aspects of the biological, chemical, physical, and geological characteristic ...

variables and moving the data in near-real time to web-accessible databases. The types of sensors employed at these observatories include: temperature, dissolved

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

, dissolved

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...

pigments such as

chlorophyll Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to a ...

and phycocyanin, as well as devices that detect water movements such as acoustic Doppler current profilers (

ADCP An acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) is a hydroacoustic current meter similar to a sonar, used to measure water current velocities over a depth range using the Doppler effect of sound waves scattered back from particles within the water col ...

.) Many of the observatories also track

meteorological Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

parameters on the lake such as

solar radiation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/m ...

, wind speed, and relative humidity. Data from the network of observatories will allow a better understanding of key processes such as the effects of climate and land use change on lake or reservoir function, the role of episodic events such as typhoons in resetting aquatic dynamics, and

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

cycling within lakes and reservoirs.

Participating lakes and organizations

* Lough Feeagh, County Mayo, Ireland * Lake Erken, Uppsala University, Sweden * Douglas Lake, University of Michigan Biological Station, Michigan, USA
Sparkling Lake, Wisconsin USA
* Trout Bog Lake (Vilas County, Wisconsin) * Crystal Bog Lake, Wisconsin, USA
Trout Lake, Wisconsin, USA
* Lake Mendota,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, USA * Lake Sunapee,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

* Lake Rotorua, New Zealand
Yuan-Yang Lake, Taiwan

Lake Kinneret, Israel
*

Chaffey Dam Chaffey Dam is a minor ungated rock fill with clay core embankment dam with an uncontrolled ''morning glory'' spillway across the Peel River, located upstream of the city of Tamworth, in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Th ...

, Nundle, NSW
Euiam, South Korea
* Soyang, South Korea * Lake Paajarvi, Lammi Finland
Lake Annie, Lake Placid, Florida
*

Lake Tai Taihu (), also known as Lake Tai or Lake Taihu, is a lake in the Yangtze Delta and one of the largest freshwater lakes in China. The lake is in Jiangsu province and a significant part of its southern shore forms its border with Zhejiang. With ...

hu, Jiangsu Province, China * West Long Lake, University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center, Michigan, USA * Big Spirit Lake, Spirit Lake, Iowa, USA

External links

GLEON website

Lake Sunapee Protective Association
* Wikiproject Lakes {{authority control Ecology organizations Limnology Environmental data