Investigation of interbasin exchange and interannual variability in Lake Erie using an unstructured‐grid hydrodynamic model

Abstract

Interbasin exchange and interannual variability in Lake Erie's three basins are investigated with the help of a three-dimensional unstructured-grid-based Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM). Experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of grid resolutions and different sources of wind forcing on the lake dynamics. Based on the calibrated model, we investigated the sensitivity of lake dynamics to major external forcing, and seasonal climatological circulation patterns are presented and compared with the observational data and existing model results. It was found that water exchange between the western basin (WB) and the central basin (CB) was mainly driven by hydraulic and density-driven flows, while density-driven flows dominate the interaction between the CB and the eastern basin (EB). River-induced hydraulic flows magnify the eastward water exchange and impede the westward one. Surface wind forcing shifts the pathway of hydraulic flows in the WB, determines the gyre pattern in the CB, contributes to thermal mixing, and magnifies interbasin water exchange during winter. Interannual variability is mainly driven by the differences in atmospheric forcing, and is most prominent in the CB.

High‐turbidity events in Western Lake Erie during ice‐free cycles: Contributions of river‐loaded vs. resuspended sediments

“…a3) and was negatively ( r < −0.2) related to the monthly mean SSC in the southern part of the basin (Fig. b3), as it carried low‐SSC water from the upper Great Lakes and accelerated the eastward transport from the western to the central basin (Niu et al ). By contrast, F MA dominated SSC at the Maumee River mouth ( r > 0.5) on both the hourly and monthly mean temporal scale.…”

Reconstruction of a meteotsunami in Lake Erie on 27 May 2012: Roles of atmospheric conditions on hydrodynamic response in enclosed basins

“…In addition, FVCOM has been successfully applied to a variety of coastal ocean, estuary, and lake environments, including validation of wind‐induced surface gravity waves [ Chen et al ., ], tsunami wave generation [ Chen et al ., ], and several barotropic cases [ Huang et al ., ]. In the Great Lakes, FVCOM has been successful in accurately predicting the amplitudes of coastal water level oscillations [ Anderson et al ., ; Anderson and Schwab , ; Niu et al ., ] and other hydrodynamic conditions [ Bai et al ., ; Fujisaki et al ., ; Nguyen et al ., ].…”

“…In the Great Lakes, FVCOM has been successful in accurately predicting the amplitudes of coastal water level oscillations [Anderson et al, 2010;Schwab, 2011, 2013;Niu et al, 2015] and other hydrodynamic conditions Fujisaki et al, 2013;Nguyen et al, 2014].…”

A modeling approach to identify the effective forcing exerted by wind on a prealpine lake surrounded by a complex topography

“…; Niu et al . ], to our knowledge this approach has never been used in medium‐size, prealpine lakes, where the overall wind circulation is totally dominated by the complex topography that surrounds the lake and with the fine resolution (250 m) used in this paper. Both Pan et al .…”