Title
Water Temperature Characteristics of Lakes Subjected to Climate Change
Publisher
St. Anthony Falls Hydraulic Laboratory
Abstract
A deterministic, one dimensional, unsteady lake water temperature
model was modified and validated to simulate the seasonal (spring to fall)
temperature stratification structure over a wide range of lake morphometries,
trophic and meteorological conditions. Model coefficients related to
hypolimnetic eddy diffusivity, light attenuation, wind sheltering, and
convective heat transfer were generalized using theoretical and empirical
extensions.
Propagation of uncertainty in the lake temperature model was studied
using a vector state-space method. The output uncertainty was defined as
the result of deviations of meteorological variables from their mean values.
Surface water temperatures were affected by uncertain meteorological forcing.
Air temperature and dew point temperature fluctuations had significant effects
on lake temperature uncertainty. The method presents a useful alternative
for studying long-term averages and variability of the water temperature
structure in lakes due to variable meteorological forcing.
The lake water temperature model was linked to a daily meteorological
data base to simulate daily water temperature in several specific lakes as well
as 27 lake classes characteristic for the north central US. Case studies of
lake water temperature and stratification response to variable climate were
made in a particularly warm year (1988) and a more normal one (1971). A
regional analysis was conducted for 27 lake classes over a period of
twenty-five years (1955-1979). Output from a global climate model (GISS)
was used to modify the meteorological data base to account for a doubling of
atmospheric C02' The simulations predict that after climate change: 1)
epilimnetic water temperatures will be higher but will increa,se less than air
temperature, 2) hypolimnetic temperatures in seasonally stratified dimictie
lakes will be largely unchanged and in some cases lower than at present, 3)
evaporative water loss will be increased by as much as 300 mm for the open
water season, 4) onset of stratification will occur earlier and overturn will
occur later in the season, and 5) overall lake stability will become greater in
spring and summer.
Funding information
Environmental Research Laboratory, US Environmental Protection Agency
Suggested Citation
Hondzo, Midhat; Stefan, Heinz G..
(1992).
Water Temperature Characteristics of Lakes Subjected to Climate Change.
St. Anthony Falls Hydraulic Laboratory.
Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy,
https://hdl.handle.net/11299/108660.