Are there currents in ponds

Lakes have aphotic zones , which are deep areas of water that receive no sunlight, preventing plants from growing.

In general, ponds have smaller waves than lakes. Waves smaller than 12 inches in height would generally be considered small. Water throughout ponds also tends to be more uniform in temperature, unlike water in lakes which can have a variety of water temperature depending on the depth. If you have a pond on your property, you might be wondering how to care for it in a way that makes it useable: how to remove or limit aquatic vegetation, stock fish, or test the health of the water.

Start here. Perhaps the most frustrating part of owning or living close to a pond is the amount of weeds and algae it seems to produce. One reason ponds are prime plant producers is how shallow they are. Sunlight can reach all the way to the bottom, giving plants the energy they need to grow. In the right amounts, weeds and algae are healthy for ponds. They provide habitats and food for critters that live on the land and in the water. Here are a few steps you can take to reach a healthy balance:.

Reservoirs with a short residence time are more river-like while reservoirs with a long residence time are more like natural lakes. Reservoirs are built for many uses. Some are built strictly for recreation such as fishing and boating or to control floods. Others are built to store water that may be used for drinking water and irrigation.

Finally, hydroelectric dams use the flow of water over turbines to generate electricity. People are most familiar with freshwater lakes. Chances are the lake closest to you is a freshwater lake. But some lakes are extremely salty. These are called saline lakes. This evaporation concentrates salts and other chemicals in the water over time. Endorheic lakes are found throughout the globe; major basins are shown in grey above and the largest endorheic lakes are shown in black.

Image from Although many freshwater lakes and rivers drain into the ocean, saline lakes are formed when they are the endpoint to river flow. These lakes are known as endorheic which means terminal , and are sometimes referred to as inland seas. Mono Lake, an endorheic lake in California, is extremely salty because water only leaves the lake through evaporation or seepage. As the water temperatures drop below 4 degrees C, the colder layers rise to the top, and again the whole body of water is mixed.

The amount of dissolved oxygen is usually highest near the surface of the water, where oxygen can diffuse across the air-water interface. However, the amount of dissolved oxygen varies quite a bit as the result of differences in temperature, sunlight, wind and the number of plants at various depths.

Some fish are bioindicators of the amount of oxygen in the lake and pond layers. Fast-moving fish such as trout need a lot of oxygen, whereas slow-moving fish such as catfish can survive in areas with lower dissolved oxygen levels.

In general, more producers are found near the top, and more consumers near the bottom of the water. Producers require sunlight near the surface of the water for photosynthesis. The bottom layers contain consumers such as anaerobic bacteria and decomposers. The biotic stratification in lakes, ponds and wetaands typically consists of three layers or zones.

Mega Rip: Are the largest type of rip currents. They form during periods of extreme wave activity such as during a hurricane or heavy rain storm. Permanent Rip: Occur in a place with a permanent obstacle like a pier, jetty or coral reef, making the rip current permanent. There is the common misconception that the term rip current is interchangeable with rip tide.

But rip currents and rip tides are not the same thing. A rip current is not a tide at all, whereas, a rip tide is the movement of tidal water through inlets on a beach such as harbours, and estuaries. So yes rip currents can occur on lakes, especially large lakes such as the Great Lakes in Canada and the U.

Rip currents can form regardless if the waterbody has a rocky or sandy bottom. When the waves break strongly and weakly at different locations, this causes the water to move in a circular motion and creates a narrow current that moves away from the shore. This current is called a rip current. Rapidly changing wave heights, sandbar breaks, weather and manmade shoreline structures ex: piers are all factors that contribute to a rip current occurring. They are especially common along the East, Gulf, and West coasts of the U.

Three tell-tale signs of a rip current include; a choppy channel of water with a circular motion, a line of seaweed or debris that is moving out to sea, and a disrupted pattern of incoming waves. The water is also likely to be darker in a rip current, or a muddy colour. Always look into the water conditions before you go swimming and try to go swimming at a lifeguard-protected beach. That way, you can ask the lifeguard for the surf conditions and of any known rip currents.

If there is no lifeguard on duty, make sure there are other swimmers around. Never ever go swimming alone on an empty beach. The National Weather Service is an excellent resource of U.