Klopeiner See

General Description

The few tributaries and the little runoff promote to the fact that the Klopeiner See is the warmest bathing lake of Carinthia. Visit one of the bathing beaches.

The lake is a vestige of a former much larger after ice- age- lake that enclosed the whole region around the village of Kühnsdorf. The lake was filled up by the drift of the after Ice Age River Vellach and only left back the water surfaces of the Klopeiner See and the Kleinsee. The southern shore of the Klopeiner See follows a high plateau of conglomerate, the so called Rückersdorfer Platte. The other shores are framed by gravel fields, moraines and sediments of the former Kühnsdorfer See.The shores show their originality only in a few smaller sections. They are mostly occupied by bathing beaches, several bathing stages were set up. There are only a few silted up areas and reed zones left. Characteristic for the Klopeiner See are the shallow lake lime banks in the eastern and the western bays.

Little flowing through – high water temperatures. The lake is fed by small, surface tributaries and groundwater wells with only little water bearing. The runoff leaves the lake in the west, it has an average water bearing of 35l/s and drains to the Drau in the end. This lake is one of the least flown- through lakes of Carinthia.

Very good water quality. In limnological regard the Klopeiner See has to be integrated within the weakly mesotrophic types of lakes, only little burdened with nutrients, having an optimal bathing water quality. The weak flowing through permits the high summer water temperatures, which are so much enjoyed by the bathing guests. Caused by the sunshine periods beyond average in spring and in summer, as well as because of the wind protected position surrounded by mountains all around in the Carinthian Basin, the Klopeiner See warms up very quickly in the summer months. In July and August the temperatures are up to 28 °C. 25°C for a longer period are usual. The warm surface water (Epilimnion) reaches a depth of down to 8 m. Only below that the lake is getting cooler and has 4 to 5 °C in 20 m depth.

Partly mixing, meromictic lake. The Klopeiner See shows a water – ecological specialty, which it is sharing with some other Carinthian lakes, like Wörthersee and Millstätter See e.g. It is meromictic, meaning that in spring and in autumn not the whole water body circulates. The water body near the ground stagnates down from 30 m depth and stays free of oxygen. In the 1930s the circulation currents reached down to 40 m. With the increasing load of nutrients (eutrophication) they could observe a rise of the line between mixolimnion and monimolimnion. At this time the mixing through happens down to 30 m, while the lower water body stagnate.

Monimolimnion: deep water that is not seized by the circulating mixolimnion, and is rich in nutrients and poor in oxygen.
Mixolimnion: circulating water body, rich in oxygen. Circulations mostly take place in spring and in autumn.
Lake lime: The assimilation of algae and water plants free calcium carbonate. These lime particles settle down on the sediment and on the water plants, which can be seen as a white layer.

Tourism

One million overnight stays every year. The Klopeiner See was already touristically used in very early times. In the 1920s they opened the first larger lodging objects and the touristic usage increased. Today the region of the Klopeiner See registers nearly one million overnight stays during the main season.

The capital city of Carinthia is in a distance of about 26 km. Because of presenting numerous cultural offers it is worth visiting. The Landesmuseum, the Stadtgalerie, Minimundus, the Reptilienzoo Happ, the Planetarium and many other possibilities for leisure time activities are to be explored.

Surrounded by mountains like the Hochobir in the south or the mountain chain Saualm region and the Koralpe in the north region around the Klopeiner See invite for hiking. In the south of the lake you find the skiing- and hiking region Petzen. By the Petzen cable-car you can pleasantly go up to 1.708m and enjoy a wonderful view all around Carinthia`s mountain- and lake panorama. A visit to the Obir-Stalactite Cavern in Eisenkappel, about 30 car minutes away, leads you into the impressive interior of the mountain.

Summer sports. Immediately near the lake there are the Tauchschule Easy Dive and the Surf School Wutte.

Fish Stock

You can find the following species of fish in the lake:

Pike (Esox lucius)
Bass (Perca fluviatilis)
Eel (Anguilla anguilla)
White fish (Coregonus lavaretus) White trout
Lake trout (Salmo trutta f. lacustris)
Catfish (Silurus glanis)
Chub (Leuciscus cephalus)
Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)
Bream (Abramis brama)
Carp (Cyprinus carpio)
Bleak (Alburnus alburnus)
Roach (Rutilus rutilus)
Common rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus)
Tench (Tinca tinca)
Pike-perch (Sander lucioperca)

15 species of fish documented in the Klopeiner See. There never was a stocking of white fish out of other lakes, and so the lake houses an autochtonous population. In former times the white fish reached average lengths of only 27 cm, during the last years the length of the angled individuals has already increased up to an average length of 38 cm. The stock of white fish is extremely good. Even carp procreate by natural reproduction, but they are also stocked. 

Angling usage. Originally there were no bream in the lake, meanwhile specimen of about 3 to 4 kg have been caught. The lake trout in the lake might solely originate out of settings in, but the catch of these fish is rather rare. The notes of HARTMANN (1898) demonstrate that in April 1897 pike perch in the form of 100.000 pike perch eggs was set into the lake for the first time. The fish population in the lake is only used for angling.

Fishing Permits

Municipal Office St. Kanzian, Klopeiner Straße 5, 9122 St. Kanzian, phone: +43 (0) 4239 2224 19

Josef Ruch, Kirchweg 7, 9122 St. Kanzian, phone: +43 (0) 4239 2331 

Tourism Region Klopeiner See, Schulstraße 10, 9122 St. Kanzian, phone: +43 (0) 4239 2222

Remedial Actions

Catchment Area

Valuation of the ecological status. The catchment area of the lake is the region, out of which the surface- and the underground waters flow into the lake. The borders of this area are formed by the watershed. The cartographic description of these catchment areas referring to the usage is the base for the valuation of the ecological status in regard to the general water instructions (WFD). All the fundamental data are registered in a data bank. With the help of the software Arc View GIS, version 3.2, the analysis of the geographic information took place. The topographic state, the natural vegetation and the anthropogen usage of the catchment area deliver important information about nutrient- and pollutant burdens.

Vegetation

There are 40 different forms of vegetation. The descriptions are out of HARTL, STERN u. SEGER, 2001, “The Map of Carinthia`s Current Vegetation”. The geo-referenced data out of this work were blended with the catchment area and transferred into the data bank.
They differentiate 40 forms of vegetation. To have a better view on the results they are comprehended in the following tabulation in these main groups:
intensively used agricultural areas, farming green-land, forests, surface- waters, built up areas, Alps and others.

Utilization

34 forms of utilization in the catchment area. They were geo-referenced and blended with the digital register (DKM) out of 2003.The granted data were transmitted into a data bank and now afford information about the dimensional distribution of the different forms of utilization. The 34 forms of utilization have also been comprehended in the main groups like it has been done for the vegetation groups.