Water Quality Characteristics and Variations of Lake Dian

In order to understand the seasonal change tendencies of the water quality of the Lake Dian (Dianchi), the monitoring data from April to September 2015 at four sites distributed in the central part from North to south were analyzed, these data includes the profiles of the water temperature (Temperature or Temp.), Dissolved Oxygen content (DO), pH values, Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), Phycocyanin (PC) and Conductivity (CD). At the same time, the Cyanophyte Relative Quantity Index (CRQI) was calculated based on the contents of Phycocyanin and Chlorophyll-a. The results demonstrate that along with the air temperature increase, the water temperature also increased step by step from April and May, and reach the maximum in June, from July to September, the water temperature kept relatively stable and decrease steadily. It also shows that the water temperature is not only various with different water depth, but also show that the temperature increase at different speed, even generally show that the surface temperature increase more rapidly than the deep water. The water temperature and its changes may adjust the air temperature of Kunming strongly and therefore, it is important for the forming of the Four Springs City of Kunming. We found that the amount of eukaryotes represented by Chlorophyll-a increased quickly and reach the highest level in the April, but the blue-green algae, which represented by the Phycocyanin is blooming in the September. This might imply that when the blue-green algae dominated the algae, the algae blooming occur. This is of great importance to understand the algae blooming processes in Lake Dian. We hope the further monitoring will provide us more detailed and useful information. Mean while, the changes of DO, pH and CD all have shown their unique that inspire us to continue the lake water monitoring. This monitoring work also proves that the single site measurements cannot provide any reliable and useful information about the lake water quality. More detailed and sustained monitoring works need to be done before we have a fully understanding on the changes of the lake water quality.