Lake Erie Hydrodynamic Modeling

The motivation for this project is to lay the groundwork for   studying the relative roles of physical, chemical, and biological   factors on the ecology of Lake Erie at a variety of space and time   scales. Lake Erie was chosen as the target lake for several  reasons including population density, availability of long term data   sets, a variety of physical, chemical, and biological forcing   functions (including invasive species), and a wide variety of   impacts including water quality (hypoxia/anoxia), fisheries,  and biological community structure. Researchers believe that a   reasonable initial approach would be to identify sources for and   begin gathering data on the biological, chemical, and physical   environment in Lake Erie. The data would be organized in a format   that would be conducive to interdisciplinary analyses. The next step   would be to develop a linked hydrodynamic/ecological model of Lake   Erie including relevant physics (tributaries, advection,   resuspension, etc.) and lower food web ecology. This project is   intended to support the development of the Lake Erie hydrodynamic   model which will eventually form the basis for the linked   hydrodynamic/ecological model.    Objectives:  1) Incorporation of ice, hydrology, storm climatology, and remote   sensing data into the Lake Erie data base. The data base includes   hourly surface meteorological data from U.S. and Canadian weather   stations, Coast Guard Stations, buoys, and coastal marine stations   around Lake Erie since 195  as well as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers   wave climatology information for 53 stations in Lake Erie.   Meteorological parameters have been summarized on daily, monthly,   and annual time scales.  2) Development of a coupled hydrodynamic-ecological model of Lake   Erie (in collaboration with J. DePinto, Limnotech Inc.). A 2 km   hydrodynamic model grid will be established and the GLERL version of   the Princeton Ocean Model will be implemented on this grid.    (Lake Erie); (hydrodynamics); (hydrodynamic); (hydrodynamic modeling)