The oxygen exchange constant, photosynthetic rate, and respiration rate for several Swiss rivers have been determined using only the continuous data record of a single oxygen electrode, the measured tcmpcrature, and an assumed ideal light intensity curve in conjunction with a simple model rate equation and a novel cross-correlation computational technique. The method can, in favorable circumstances, be extended to determine also total carbonate dynamics from continuous pH measurements.For the Aare at Bern in March 1974, the oxygen exchange constant was 0.38 h-l, the respiration rate was 0.6 mg liter-' h-l, and mean photosynthetic rate was 0.28 mg liter-l h-l. The exchange rate for dissolved (but not hydrated or ionized) COti was 0.91 times that for dissolved oxygen. and the ratio of 02 molecules released to COP molecules consumed during photosynthesis was about 1.2.