Glacial lakes in the Tatra National Park

Morskie Oko in Tatra Mts

Glacial lakes in the Tatra National Park

  • Country: 
    Poland
  • Site number: 
    2340
  • Area: 
    571.1 ha
  • Designation date: 
    11-12-2017
  • Coordinates: 
    49°13'N 19°59'E
Materials presented on this website, particularly maps and territorial information, are as-is and as-available based on available data and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Overview

The Site consists of ten separate areas, and includes the small lakes of the High Tatra mountains and their immediate surroundings, together with the Dudowe Stawki ponds and the Siwe Stawki lakes in the Western Tatra mountains. The biggest lakes are Morskie Oko, Wielki Staw and Czarny Staw pod Rysami. The majority of the lakes are situated in depressions created by erosion and in areas of glacial accumulation; however the lakes in the Gąsienicowa valley are the result of karst genesis. The marshy lake banks and the adjoining peat areas provide habitats for some notable vascular plants such as the Alpine bulrush Trichophorum alpinum and the rush Juncus triglumis, which is limited in the Polish Carpathians to the Tatra mountains only. The mosaics of dwarf-pine scrub, grasslands, tall grass swards and the lakeside wetlands provide habitat for the boreal-alpine form of the bluethroat Luscinia svecica svecica, which is protected in the Tatry Natura 2000 site. It is exceptionally rare: its only breeding areas in the whole Carpathian mountain range are in the Tatra (on both the Polish and Czech sides of the border). The Site is entirely located within the borders of the Tatra National Park, which is popular for hiking, nature observation and other forms of recreation. It is also a long-term monitoring site.

Administrative region: 
Małopolskie

  • Global international designation: 
    • UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
  • National legal designation: 
    • National Park - Tatrzański Park Narodowy
  • Regional (international) legal designations: 
    • EU Natura 2000
  • Last publication date: 
    09-05-2018