Developing Three Dimensional Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model for Lake St. Clair

Session: 47. - Physical Processes in Lakes

Mohammad Madani, University of Windsor, [email protected]
Rajesh Seth, University of Windsor, [email protected]
Luis Leon, Environment Canada, [email protected]

Abstract

Microbial contamination levels deemed to be unsafe for swimming or requiring closure of beaches are routinely being observed on Lake St. Clair.  In order to better track the sources of microbial contamination or to develop the capability of predicting the level of microbial contamination at the beaches in real time, it is expected that a model with capability to predict the unsteady hydrodynamics in 3D space and time will be necessary.  In the current study, a 3D unsteady numerical model of Lake St. Clair was set up over a four-month period (June-September) of 2016 using the ELCOM hydrodynamic modelling framework and the performance evaluated against measured data. Model output was used for better understanding the circulation and temperature profile in Lake St. Clair. The vertical distribution of temperature revealed little to no stratification in the water column. Both the model predicted profile and the temperature values were in good agreement with the observed data with RMSE and MAE values of 0.8  and 0.6  respectively. The next step will be to couple the 3D numerical model with the ecological model framework (CAEDYM) to model nutrients and microbial water quality parameters in the lake.

1. Keyword
Lake St. Clair

2. Keyword
hydrodynamic model

3. Keyword
water quality

4. Additional Keyword
ecological model

5. Additional Keyword
ELCOM

6. Additional Keyword
CAEDYM