Winter Pond Temps

[MitchM]

pond a toasty 42 now!

..and mine is at 40 right now, but still with thick ice.
Interesting.
If I could sneak a bubbler down the side, I would. There's not enough room along the edges yet.

 

[Lisak1]

and mine is at 40 right now, but still with thick ice

That's the kind of information I would be interested in collecting from my own pond. We may assume the water under the ice is, well, ice cold... but does the ice actually create a thermal cap of sorts that allows the heat from the earth to warm the water? We know the earth at a certain depth (depending on your frost line) stays at the same temperature regardless of the ambient temperature. So it would make sense that by keeping the heat in the water with an ice "lid" you could raise the temperature of the water with the warmth that is coming from the ground. (I probably learned all this in elementary school.. but hey! I'm a slow learner!)

I'm putting a weather station on my wish list!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

That's the kind of information I would be interested in collecting from my own pond. We may assume the water under the ice is, well, ice cold... but does the ice actually create a thermal cap of sorts that allows the heat from the earth to warm the water? We know the earth at a certain depth (depending on your frost line) stays at the same temperature regardless of the ambient temperature. So it would make sense that by keeping the heat in the water with an ice "lid" you could raise the temperature of the water with the warmth that is coming from the ground. (I probably learned all this in elementary school.. but hey! I'm a slow learner!)

I'm putting a weather station on my wish list!

You have the right idea. The ice loss on the underside of the ice "lid" is usually much faster than the ice loss on the top.

 

[addy1]

My pond sat at 41 and 40 for most of the winter, under the ice, it was only mid February that if finally fell into the 38 - 39 range. That was as our temps started hitting the minus area and teens during the day. Just in the last week it has climbed back to 40 and is slowly climbing higher. I just checked right now it is at 43, the sun hitting the water is cranking up the temps.
We are getting snow flurries today.

 

[MitchM]

That's the kind of information I would be interested in collecting from my own pond. We may assume the water under the ice is, well, ice cold... but does the ice actually create a thermal cap of sorts that allows the heat from the earth to warm the water? We know the earth at a certain depth (depending on your frost line) stays at the same temperature regardless of the ambient temperature. So it would make sense that by keeping the heat in the water with an ice "lid" you could raise the temperature of the water with the warmth that is coming from the ground. (I probably learned all this in elementary school.. but hey! I'm a slow learner!)

I'm putting a weather station on my wish list!

Lisak1, Have you had a look at the pond heat loss calculator at the bottom of my signature?
There are some formulas in there where you use numbers from your own pond and weather conditions to help you understand further what's going on with your pond water temperature.

 

[Lisak1]

Have you had a look at the pond heat loss calculator at the bottom of my signature?

I did - and my head started to hurt and then my eyes started to water and I got reaaaaaaaallllly tired. ha! Kudos to anyone who understands THAT business! I'm a word person - numbers are not my thing. I have a son who's an engineer - I'll have him take a look at it and explain it to me... in really small, easy words!

 

[MitchM]

Well, you only need to go through the exercise once to get an appreciation of how many factors contribute to your pond's temperature.
If/when you get that weather station, the information it provides will help you a lot.
It'll be a good project for the next time you have a bad weather event.