Redoubt Lake  I went to a talk last night about sockeye salmon
studies in Southeast Alaska. One of the few systems with sockeye
that has much data on returns over the year is Redoubt Lake a
few miles south of Sitka. Here are some interesting facts about
the lake (some I learned from the talk and others that I learned
elsewhere): Redoubt Lake is over 200 meters deep and below a
certain depth it is saltwater. If you pull up some of the lower
water it smells like sulfur (rotten eggs). Saltwater is more
dense than freshwater and this prevents the lake from turning
over and bringing up nutrients from the bottom. Redoubt is the
largest of these lake types in Southeast Alaska. The lake is
less than 15 feet above sea level, and I have read that on
extreme high tides when there has been a significant storm
surge, sea water has spilled into the lake. If sea level were a
little bit higher, or the small barrier between the lake and the
bay were removed, Redoubt Lake would be another fjord. If there
has been significant i