Loch Leven - United Kingdom

Basic Information
Site Name
Loch Leven
Short name
L06
Country
United Kingdom
Web Address
ECN website
Loch Leven on UK Lakes Portal
Operating Organisation
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)
Site Manager
Linda May
Funding Agency
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)
Site Description
UK ECN site. Loch Leven is the largest, shallow, relatively nutrient-rich, lowland loch (lake) in Scotland. It lies at an altitude of 107m. It has a surface area of 13.3km2 and has a mean depth of 3.9m. The Loch Leven catchment covers 145 km2, consisting mainly of arable crops and improved pasture. Loch Leven is particularly renowned for its large numbers of migratory, breeding and overwintering waterfowl and its world famous brown trout fishery. Although the overall quality of the site is good, the loch has suffered from periodic cyanobacterial (‘blue-green algal’) blooms for many years. These have occurred, largely, as a result of substantial amounts of phosphorus entering the loch, combined with a relatively low flushing rate and a favourable light-climate.
Last modified
2023-07-28 10:07:21

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1994
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
ILTER✔This site is a verified "ILTER" member.
LTER Europe✔This site is a verified "LTER Europe" member.
UK ECN✔ (LTER_EU_UK_006)This site is a verified "UK ECN" member.
Projects
eLTER (H2020)
eLTER catalogue
Photos
Loch Leven
Loch Leven
View from boat crossing Loch Leven
View from boat crossing Loch Leven
Jetty and island, Loch Leven
Jetty and island, Loch Leven
Geographic
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 56.1833 Longitude: -3.38333

Size
ca. 1330.00ha
Elevation (average)
302.00msl
Elevation (min)
107.00msl
Elevation (max)
497.00msl
Related location(s)
Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]
Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]
GEO-BON Biome
Fresh water lakes
Biome
Fresh Water Lakes
Ecosystem Type
Lakes
Fresh Water Lakes
Biogeographical Region
Atlantic Bio-geographical Region
EUNIS habitat
Inland surface waters (C)
Inland surface waters (C) » Surface standing waters (C1)
Inland surface waters (C) » Surface standing waters (C1) » Permanent eutrophic lakes, ponds and pools (C1.3)
Air Temperature: Average Annual
7.61°C
Precipitation Annual
957.30mm
Vegetation
The Loch Leven catchment covers 145 km2, consisting mainly of arable crops (38.6%) and improved pasture (31.5%), but also upland moor (11.6%), coniferous woodland (3.8%), heathland (3.5%), rough grazing (3.5%), suburban/rural development (2.2%) and the rest - deciduous woodland, bog, bare ground, inland water - (5.3%). The highest part of the catchment is at 497m.
Protection Level (IUCN category)
Category II – National Park
Category IV – Habitat/Species Management Area
Site Type
Stationary land-based site
Design of Experimentation
partly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
plot scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
plot within catchment
Permanent Power Supply
No
Equipment
Data infrastructure » Data services » Data portal
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Structured file
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Relational database
Equipment notes
For 'Measuring tower' read 'Automated buoy'. See: http://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/uk-lake-ecological-observatory-network-ukleon. There is accommodation nearby
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
Yes
Access Type
boat
Permanent Operation
Yes
Operation Notes
ECN freshwater monitoring is carried out at least once per month, if not more frequently. This lake also has an automated monitoring buoy.
Site Visit Interval
30
Data Policy URL
http://data.ecn.ac.uk/datapolicy.asp
LTER Site Classification
Regular
Related Resources on DEIMS-SDR
1 dataset(s) in total:
Loch Leven: UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) water temperature 1994-2012
There is EURO-CORDEX climate scenario data available for this site:
Projected Near Surface Specific Humidity ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Precipitation ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Sea Level Pressure ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Surface Downwelling Shortwave RadiationRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Wind SpeedRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85

You can also download the entire climate scenario dataset for this site from the EUDAT B2SHARE data store.