The Lake Mesocosm Warming Experiment (LMWE) is a unique long-term (with 20 years so far the world’s longest running) flow-through mesocosm experiment addressing climate-change effects on lakes under contrasting nutrient levels and water clarity. Twenty-four cylindrical outdoor mesocosms are used, each with a capacity of 2.8 m3. The mesocosms receive groundwater 6 times per day, resulting in a theoretical water retention time of 2.5 months. Water in the mesocosms is continuously mixed by paddles and heated by electrical elements. Three temperature regimes are run: ambient temperature and two elevated temperatures according to IPPC climate scenarios A2 and A2 + 50%, down-scaled to local 25 25 km grid cells. The modelled temperature difference for the A2 scenario is generally higher in August to January (max. 4.4 °C in September) than during the rest of the year (min. 2.5 °C in June). Individual mesocosms of each temperature regime are run at either low or high nutrient concentrations (4 replicates per treatment). The latter are obtained by weekly dosing of N and P. In June 2023, after 19 year of the previous nutrient loadings, the nutrient treatments were reversed to study the effects of oligotrphication and eutrophication under different warming scenarios.
Conintuous measurement of oxygen, temperature and pH. High frequency measurement of greenhouse gases.