Abstract. Wind stress, wind waves, and turbulence are essential
variables and play a critical role in regulating a series of physical and
biogeochemical processes in large shallow lakes. However, the
parameterization of these variables and simulation of their interactions in
large shallow lakes have not been strictly evaluated owing to a lack of
field observations of lake hydrodynamic processes. To address this problem,
two process-based field observations were conducted to record the
development of summer and winter wind-driven currents in Lake Taihu, a large
shallow lake in China. Using these observations and numerical experiments, a Wave and Current Coupled Model (WCCM) is
developed by
rebuilding the wind drag coefficient expression, introducing wave-induced
radiation stress, and adopting a simple turbulence scheme to simulate
wind-driven currents in Lake Taihu. The results show that the WCCM can
accurately simulate the upwelling process driven by wind-driven currents
during the field observations. A comparison with a reference model indicates
a 42.9 % increase of the WCCM-simulated current speed, which is mainly
attributed to the new wind drag coefficient expression. The WCCM-simulated
current direction and field are also improved owing to the introduction of
wave-induced radiation stress. The use of the simple turbulent scheme in the
WCCM improves the efficiency of the upwelling process simulation. The WCCM
thus provides a sound basis for simulating shallow lake ecosystems.