Woods Pond’s monthly fluorescence, oxygen, and temperature profiles. Chlorophyll concentration (green line), dissolved oxygen concentration (blue line), and temperature data (red line) were collected at every meter from the surface to the bottom from May through September.
Throughout the season, algae concentrations tended to be fairly uniform throughout the water column. While fluorescence readings were highest in June, fluorescent changes were small and gradual within the water column and throughout the season. Higher fluorescence readings were not in the portion of the water column that people usually use throughout most of the season. Most elevated readings tended to occur above or near the thermocline meaning that those readings are likely represented in the chlorophyll samples analyzed in the Water Quality figure above.
Gloeotrichia echinulata (a type of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) commonly found in low-nutrient waters) can be seen with the naked eye. Gloeo density is reported as a value ranging from 0 – 6, based on the number of Gloeo colonies seen through a Secchi scope. Higher values indicate more Gloeo colonies. Gloeotrichia echenulata colonies were not observed in Woods Pond in 2024.
