Ehab Meselhe - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ehab Meselhe
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2007, 2007
Recent years have witnessed significant advances in development of operational radarrainfall prod... more Recent years have witnessed significant advances in development of operational radarrainfall products. These products are desirable for several hydrologic applications such as flood forecasting and rainfall-runoff modeling. It is recognized that radar-rainfall estimates are associated with unknown uncertainties. The nature of these uncertainties and their impact on the prediction accuracy of hydrologic models is not fully understood. The present study presents an analysis of uncertainties of operational radar-rainfall products and how they propagate into rainfall-runoff models. The study uses NWS Multi-sensor Precipitation Estimator (MPE) radar-rainfall products over the Goodwin Creek experimental watershed. Surface rainfall observations from a dense rain gauge network in the watershed are used to analyze error characteristics of radar products. MPE radar data are used as input to a fully distributed hydrologic model (GSSHA) to simulate runoff response during 11 storms recorded in 2002. The study focuses on effect of three different radar error characteristics: systematic error (bias), random error, and temporal and spatial correlations of radar the error filed.
It is well known that changes in water quantity, timing and quality are introducing negative impa... more It is well known that changes in water quantity, timing and quality are introducing negative impacts to the Everglades ecosystem. The changes in natural timing of water levels affect wading birds feeding patterns, apple snail reproductive output, and alligator nesting. Similarly, changes in the spatial distribution of water levels alter the distribution of aquatic vegetation and tree islands. Along with
Multi-Instrumental Measurement of Bedload Transport and Turbulent Resuspension over Lateral Sand Bars in the Lower Mississippi River
Two reaches of the lower Mississippi River at Myrtle Grove, LA (river kilometer 95-100 above Head... more Two reaches of the lower Mississippi River at Myrtle Grove, LA (river kilometer 95-100 above Head of Passes) and Magnolia, LA (river kilometer 72-76) were examined during rising river discharge in April (23,800 cms) and May (19,300 cms) 2010 using a multi-instrumental approach to observe the dynamics of bedload transport and turbulent resuspension over lateral river sand bars. The key
HYDRODYNAMICS AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER MEANDER BENDS (LOUISIANA): IMPLICATIONS FOR LARGE SEDIMENT DIVERSIONS
Field data collection and numerical modeling is being conducted in the lower Mississippi River in... more Field data collection and numerical modeling is being conducted in the lower Mississippi River in the region of a meander bend at Myrtle Grove, LA (river km 96 above Head of Passes) in support of a proposed large water and sediment diversion (1,130-2,830 cms) for coastal wetland restoration. Field studies in October 2008, April and May 2009, at discharges ranging
Simulation Management Systems Developed by the Northern Gulf Coastal Hazards Collaboratory (NG-CHC): An Overview of Cyberinfrastructure to Support the Coastal Modeling Community in the Gulf of Mexico
Coastal Research Library, 2014
ABSTRACT Given the significance of natural and built assets of the Gulf of Mexico region, the thr... more ABSTRACT Given the significance of natural and built assets of the Gulf of Mexico region, the three states of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, leveraged their unique partnerships, proximity, and significant prior investments in cyberinfrastructure (CI) to develop the Northern Gulf Coastal Hazards Collaboratory (NG-CHC). This collaboratory was established to catalyze collaborative research via enhanced CI to reduce the regions vulnerability to natural and human disasters by facilitating high performance modeling to test hypotheses focused on engineering design, coastal system response, and risk management of coastal hazards. The objective of the NG-CHC is to advance research and inspire collaboration through highly available innovation-enabling CI, with a particular focus on geosciences and engineering from the watershed to the coast. An integrated CI capable of simulating all relevant interacting processes is needed to implement a system that captures the dynamic nature of coastal surface processes. The NG-CHC has implemented CI to locate appropriate data and computational resources, create necessary workflows associated with different simulation demands, and provide visualization tools for analysis of results. Three simulation management systems, SIMULOCEAN, SULIS, and ASGS, were implemented, each with a defined suite of hypotheses and institutional participants to run collaborator experiments. The NG-CHC focused on developing suites of CI tools centered on handling the functional needs of each simulation management system in a collaborative environment. The NG-CHC also developed curriculum units, computer games and simulations to extend the knowledge of coastal hazards to students from middle school to college. Education and outreach activities were developed to increase public understanding and support for sustainable coastal practices. The elements of the CI tool box within NG-CHC describe generic tools needed to promote a ‘collaborative modeling environment’ in other coastal systems.
The Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality 2009, 2009
Over the last decades, Louisiana has lost a substantial part of its coastal region to the Gulf of... more Over the last decades, Louisiana has lost a substantial part of its coastal region to the Gulf of Mexico. The goal of the project depicted in this paper is to investigate the complex ecological and geophysical system not only to find solutions to reverse this development but also to protect the southern landscape of Louisiana for disastrous impacts of natural hazards like hurricanes. This paper sets a focus on the interactive data handling of the Chenier Plain which is only one scenario of the overall project. The challenge addressed is the interactive exploration of large-scale time-depending 2D simulation results and of terrain data with a high resolution that is available for this region.
Adaptable web modules to stimulate active learning in engineering hydrology using data and model simulations
QScience Proceedings, 2014
Numerical Simulation of Transcritical Flow in Open Channels
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering-asce, 1997
... (1992) used a total variation diminishing (TVD) version of ... Page 4. spectral radius scalin... more ... (1992) used a total variation diminishing (TVD) version of ... Page 4. spectral radius scaling, which is routinely used in gas dynam-ics simulations, stems from the well-known relation between upwind and central differencing schemes when applied to a ... 1981) to open-channel flows ...
Invalidity of Preissmann Scheme for Transcritical Flow
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering-asce, 1997
Journal of Hydrology, 2008
Reliable and accurate forecasts of salinity changes are essential for the success of current and ... more Reliable and accurate forecasts of salinity changes are essential for the success of current and future management scenarios aimed at restoring and sustaining natural resources of coastal and estuarine ecosystems. Because of the physical complexity of such ecosystems, information on uncertainty associated with salinity forecasts should be assessed and incorporated into management and restoration decisions. This study focuses on the impact of spatial variability and limited sampling of rainfall on salinity prediction in an estuarine system. The analysis is conducted on the Barataria basin, which is a wetlanddominated estuarine system located directly west of the Mississippi Delta complex on the United States coast of south Louisiana. The basin has been experiencing significant losses of wetland at a rate of nearly 23 km 2 /year. Radar-rainfall data with high spatial resolution are used to simulate various scenarios of hypothetical rain gauge sampling densities over the basin. A mass-balance hydrologic salinity model is used to assess the effect of reduced rainfall sampling on salinity prediction in the basin. The results indicated that, due to the critical role played by rainfall in determining the overall balance of the basin freshwater budget, a high degree of uncertainty exists in salinity predictions when using typical average rain gauge densities (e.g., 1.3 gauges/1000 km 2 in the US). These uncertainties decline sharply as the number of available gauges is increased beyond the typically available density. Uncertainties in salinity predictions in the Barataria basin are larger in inland locations and smaller near the mouth of the basin, where salinity conditions in the coastal 0022-1694/$ -see front matter ª
Journal of Hydrology, 2012
The Mississippi River Delta of south Louisiana USA is a highly engineered system with extensive l... more The Mississippi River Delta of south Louisiana USA is a highly engineered system with extensive levees, flood control, and diversion structures. This region is experiencing a high rate of coastal wetland loss. Solutions to divert or re-direct a portion of the River's sediment to benefit wetlands and reduce coastal land-loss are considered. The question that must be answered, regarding the impact and feasibility of sediment diversions is: What is the sediment-water ratio at a diversion? To help answer this question a numerical model of hydrodynamics and sediment transport supported by extensive field data is used to analyze a proposed sediment diversion near Myrtle Grove, Louisiana. This location is at a River Kilometer 90 above the Head of Passes -exit of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. The numerical model showed that the location of the diversion, the size and the alignment of the diversion channel are critical parameters affecting the sediment-water ratio captured by the diversion. The analysis shows that locating the intake near a lateral sandbar increases the sediment-water ratio in the diversion. Further, the analysis shows that a larger diversion channel with a favorable alignment orientation to the flow direction in the river results in higher sediment-water ratio.
The use of large water and sediment diversions in the lower Mississippi River (Louisiana) for coastal restoration
Journal of Hydrology, 2010
... lower Mississippi River on the availability and accessibility of sediments, and the status of... more ... lower Mississippi River on the availability and accessibility of sediments, and the status ofsediment transport modeling and (2 ... The furthest downstream long-term (>50 y) gauging station on the Mississippi utilized to calculate both water and sediment discharge above ...
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 2008
This study investigates the effect of local systematic and random errors of the commonly used tip... more This study investigates the effect of local systematic and random errors of the commonly used tipping-bucket ͑TB͒ rain gauges on the accuracy of runoff predictions. A physically-based rainfall-runoff model is applied to analyze several storms in a humid midsize watershed in south Louisiana. Two types of systematic TB errors are considered, wind-induced losses and underestimation of high rainfall intensities due to the lack of gauge dynamic calibration. The effect of the TB errors is assessed by comparing hydrographs simulated using uncorrected and corrected rainfall input. The results indicate that wind and dynamic calibration effects can cause differences in estimating runoff volumes and peaks on the order of 5 to 15%. We also analyze the effect of random TB errors caused by the discrete gauge sampling mechanism. The computed runoff differences caused by the TB random errors were dependent on the magnitude of the runoff discharge, and on the temporal resolution of the rainfall input. However, the effect of random errors was found to be rather small, especially for large discharge.
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 2009
This study investigated the impact of temporal and spatial sampling of rainfall on runoff predict... more This study investigated the impact of temporal and spatial sampling of rainfall on runoff predictions using a physically based ͓System Hydrologique European ͑MIKE SHE͔͒ and conceptual ͓hydrologic modeling system ͑HMS͔͒ hydrologic models. The numerical models were applied to Goodwin Creek watershed in northern Mississippi. The drainage area of Goodwin Creek is approximately 21.4 km 2 . This study showed that MIKE SHE was more sensitive to both the spatial and the temporal samplings of rainfall than the HMS. The study also showed that errors introduced by coarse sampling scenarios can be significant. Overall, for this particular watershed size, increasing the rain gauge density from 1 to 2 resulted in the most significant improvement for both models. Similarly, a temporal sampling frequency beyond 1 h showed significant deterioration in the quality of the runoff prediction. The combined spatial-temporal sampling experiment showed that increasing the temporal sampling compensates, at least partially, for the loss of rainfall spatial information. It also showed that under poor temporal sampling frequency, the gain in model performance by increasing the spatial sampling density is negligible.
Water budget model for a remnant northern Everglades wetland
Journal of Hydraulic Research, 2010
ABSTRACT The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge overlays Water Conservation ... more ABSTRACT The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge overlays Water Conservation Area 1, a 580 km freshwater wetland remnant of the northern Everglades in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. Changes in water quantity and quality have impacted the Refuge ecosystem. Ensuring appropriate management to maximize benefits for wildlife while meeting flood control and water supply needs is a refuge priority. The Simple Refuge Stage Model described herein supports these management decisions. The two-compartment model with a daily time step predicts temporal variations of water level in the refuge rim canal and interior marsh, based on observed inflows, outflows, precipitation and evapotranspiration. The model was used to evaluate various water management scenarios. The modelling approach applied herein may have utility in managing other wetland systems where over-bank flooding is a dominant mechanism, affecting hydrology and water quality.
Simulation of Unsteady Flow in Irrigation Canals with Dry Bed
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 1993
Surface Water Sulfate Dynamics in the Northern Florida Everglades
Journal of Environment Quality, 2009
Sulfate contamination has been identified as a serious environmental issue in the Everglades ecos... more Sulfate contamination has been identified as a serious environmental issue in the Everglades ecosystem. However, it has received less attention compared to P enrichment. Sulfate enters the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), a remnant of the historic Everglades, in pumped stormwater discharges with a mean concentration of approximately 50 mg L(-1), and marsh interior concentrations at times fall below a detection limit of 0.1 mg L(-1). In this research, we developed a sulfate mass balance model to examine the response of surface water sulfate in the Refuge to changes in sulfate loading and hydrological processes. Meanwhile, sulfate removal resulting from microbial sulfate reduction in the underlying sediments of the marsh was estimated from the apparent settling coefficients incorporated in the model. The model has been calibrated and validated using long-term monitoring data (1995-2006). Statistical analysis indicated that our model is capable of capturing the spatial and temporal variations in surface water sulfate concentrations across the Refuge. This modeling work emphasizes the fact that sulfate from canal discharge is impacting even the interior portions of the Refuge, supporting work by other researchers. In addition, model simulations suggest a condition of sulfate in excess of requirement for microbial sulfate reduction in the Refuge.
Numerical Modeling of the Mississippi-Atchafalaya Rivers' Sediment Transport and Fate: Considerations for Diversion Scenarios
Journal of Coastal Research, 2010
Journal of Coastal Research, 2007
HABIB, E.; NUTTLE, W.K.; RIVERA-MONROY, V.H.; GAUTAM, S.; WANG, J.; MESELHE, E., and TWILLEY, R.R... more HABIB, E.; NUTTLE, W.K.; RIVERA-MONROY, V.H.; GAUTAM, S.; WANG, J.; MESELHE, E., and TWILLEY, R.R., 2007. Assessing effects of data limitations on salinity forecasting in Barataria basin, Louisiana, with a Bayesian analysis. Journal of Coastal Research, 23(3), 749-763. West Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2007, 2007
Recent years have witnessed significant advances in development of operational radarrainfall prod... more Recent years have witnessed significant advances in development of operational radarrainfall products. These products are desirable for several hydrologic applications such as flood forecasting and rainfall-runoff modeling. It is recognized that radar-rainfall estimates are associated with unknown uncertainties. The nature of these uncertainties and their impact on the prediction accuracy of hydrologic models is not fully understood. The present study presents an analysis of uncertainties of operational radar-rainfall products and how they propagate into rainfall-runoff models. The study uses NWS Multi-sensor Precipitation Estimator (MPE) radar-rainfall products over the Goodwin Creek experimental watershed. Surface rainfall observations from a dense rain gauge network in the watershed are used to analyze error characteristics of radar products. MPE radar data are used as input to a fully distributed hydrologic model (GSSHA) to simulate runoff response during 11 storms recorded in 2002. The study focuses on effect of three different radar error characteristics: systematic error (bias), random error, and temporal and spatial correlations of radar the error filed.
It is well known that changes in water quantity, timing and quality are introducing negative impa... more It is well known that changes in water quantity, timing and quality are introducing negative impacts to the Everglades ecosystem. The changes in natural timing of water levels affect wading birds feeding patterns, apple snail reproductive output, and alligator nesting. Similarly, changes in the spatial distribution of water levels alter the distribution of aquatic vegetation and tree islands. Along with
Multi-Instrumental Measurement of Bedload Transport and Turbulent Resuspension over Lateral Sand Bars in the Lower Mississippi River
Two reaches of the lower Mississippi River at Myrtle Grove, LA (river kilometer 95-100 above Head... more Two reaches of the lower Mississippi River at Myrtle Grove, LA (river kilometer 95-100 above Head of Passes) and Magnolia, LA (river kilometer 72-76) were examined during rising river discharge in April (23,800 cms) and May (19,300 cms) 2010 using a multi-instrumental approach to observe the dynamics of bedload transport and turbulent resuspension over lateral river sand bars. The key
HYDRODYNAMICS AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER MEANDER BENDS (LOUISIANA): IMPLICATIONS FOR LARGE SEDIMENT DIVERSIONS
Field data collection and numerical modeling is being conducted in the lower Mississippi River in... more Field data collection and numerical modeling is being conducted in the lower Mississippi River in the region of a meander bend at Myrtle Grove, LA (river km 96 above Head of Passes) in support of a proposed large water and sediment diversion (1,130-2,830 cms) for coastal wetland restoration. Field studies in October 2008, April and May 2009, at discharges ranging
Simulation Management Systems Developed by the Northern Gulf Coastal Hazards Collaboratory (NG-CHC): An Overview of Cyberinfrastructure to Support the Coastal Modeling Community in the Gulf of Mexico
Coastal Research Library, 2014
ABSTRACT Given the significance of natural and built assets of the Gulf of Mexico region, the thr... more ABSTRACT Given the significance of natural and built assets of the Gulf of Mexico region, the three states of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, leveraged their unique partnerships, proximity, and significant prior investments in cyberinfrastructure (CI) to develop the Northern Gulf Coastal Hazards Collaboratory (NG-CHC). This collaboratory was established to catalyze collaborative research via enhanced CI to reduce the regions vulnerability to natural and human disasters by facilitating high performance modeling to test hypotheses focused on engineering design, coastal system response, and risk management of coastal hazards. The objective of the NG-CHC is to advance research and inspire collaboration through highly available innovation-enabling CI, with a particular focus on geosciences and engineering from the watershed to the coast. An integrated CI capable of simulating all relevant interacting processes is needed to implement a system that captures the dynamic nature of coastal surface processes. The NG-CHC has implemented CI to locate appropriate data and computational resources, create necessary workflows associated with different simulation demands, and provide visualization tools for analysis of results. Three simulation management systems, SIMULOCEAN, SULIS, and ASGS, were implemented, each with a defined suite of hypotheses and institutional participants to run collaborator experiments. The NG-CHC focused on developing suites of CI tools centered on handling the functional needs of each simulation management system in a collaborative environment. The NG-CHC also developed curriculum units, computer games and simulations to extend the knowledge of coastal hazards to students from middle school to college. Education and outreach activities were developed to increase public understanding and support for sustainable coastal practices. The elements of the CI tool box within NG-CHC describe generic tools needed to promote a ‘collaborative modeling environment’ in other coastal systems.
The Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality 2009, 2009
Over the last decades, Louisiana has lost a substantial part of its coastal region to the Gulf of... more Over the last decades, Louisiana has lost a substantial part of its coastal region to the Gulf of Mexico. The goal of the project depicted in this paper is to investigate the complex ecological and geophysical system not only to find solutions to reverse this development but also to protect the southern landscape of Louisiana for disastrous impacts of natural hazards like hurricanes. This paper sets a focus on the interactive data handling of the Chenier Plain which is only one scenario of the overall project. The challenge addressed is the interactive exploration of large-scale time-depending 2D simulation results and of terrain data with a high resolution that is available for this region.
Adaptable web modules to stimulate active learning in engineering hydrology using data and model simulations
QScience Proceedings, 2014
Numerical Simulation of Transcritical Flow in Open Channels
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering-asce, 1997
... (1992) used a total variation diminishing (TVD) version of ... Page 4. spectral radius scalin... more ... (1992) used a total variation diminishing (TVD) version of ... Page 4. spectral radius scaling, which is routinely used in gas dynam-ics simulations, stems from the well-known relation between upwind and central differencing schemes when applied to a ... 1981) to open-channel flows ...
Invalidity of Preissmann Scheme for Transcritical Flow
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering-asce, 1997
Journal of Hydrology, 2008
Reliable and accurate forecasts of salinity changes are essential for the success of current and ... more Reliable and accurate forecasts of salinity changes are essential for the success of current and future management scenarios aimed at restoring and sustaining natural resources of coastal and estuarine ecosystems. Because of the physical complexity of such ecosystems, information on uncertainty associated with salinity forecasts should be assessed and incorporated into management and restoration decisions. This study focuses on the impact of spatial variability and limited sampling of rainfall on salinity prediction in an estuarine system. The analysis is conducted on the Barataria basin, which is a wetlanddominated estuarine system located directly west of the Mississippi Delta complex on the United States coast of south Louisiana. The basin has been experiencing significant losses of wetland at a rate of nearly 23 km 2 /year. Radar-rainfall data with high spatial resolution are used to simulate various scenarios of hypothetical rain gauge sampling densities over the basin. A mass-balance hydrologic salinity model is used to assess the effect of reduced rainfall sampling on salinity prediction in the basin. The results indicated that, due to the critical role played by rainfall in determining the overall balance of the basin freshwater budget, a high degree of uncertainty exists in salinity predictions when using typical average rain gauge densities (e.g., 1.3 gauges/1000 km 2 in the US). These uncertainties decline sharply as the number of available gauges is increased beyond the typically available density. Uncertainties in salinity predictions in the Barataria basin are larger in inland locations and smaller near the mouth of the basin, where salinity conditions in the coastal 0022-1694/$ -see front matter ª
Journal of Hydrology, 2012
The Mississippi River Delta of south Louisiana USA is a highly engineered system with extensive l... more The Mississippi River Delta of south Louisiana USA is a highly engineered system with extensive levees, flood control, and diversion structures. This region is experiencing a high rate of coastal wetland loss. Solutions to divert or re-direct a portion of the River's sediment to benefit wetlands and reduce coastal land-loss are considered. The question that must be answered, regarding the impact and feasibility of sediment diversions is: What is the sediment-water ratio at a diversion? To help answer this question a numerical model of hydrodynamics and sediment transport supported by extensive field data is used to analyze a proposed sediment diversion near Myrtle Grove, Louisiana. This location is at a River Kilometer 90 above the Head of Passes -exit of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. The numerical model showed that the location of the diversion, the size and the alignment of the diversion channel are critical parameters affecting the sediment-water ratio captured by the diversion. The analysis shows that locating the intake near a lateral sandbar increases the sediment-water ratio in the diversion. Further, the analysis shows that a larger diversion channel with a favorable alignment orientation to the flow direction in the river results in higher sediment-water ratio.
The use of large water and sediment diversions in the lower Mississippi River (Louisiana) for coastal restoration
Journal of Hydrology, 2010
... lower Mississippi River on the availability and accessibility of sediments, and the status of... more ... lower Mississippi River on the availability and accessibility of sediments, and the status ofsediment transport modeling and (2 ... The furthest downstream long-term (>50 y) gauging station on the Mississippi utilized to calculate both water and sediment discharge above ...
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 2008
This study investigates the effect of local systematic and random errors of the commonly used tip... more This study investigates the effect of local systematic and random errors of the commonly used tipping-bucket ͑TB͒ rain gauges on the accuracy of runoff predictions. A physically-based rainfall-runoff model is applied to analyze several storms in a humid midsize watershed in south Louisiana. Two types of systematic TB errors are considered, wind-induced losses and underestimation of high rainfall intensities due to the lack of gauge dynamic calibration. The effect of the TB errors is assessed by comparing hydrographs simulated using uncorrected and corrected rainfall input. The results indicate that wind and dynamic calibration effects can cause differences in estimating runoff volumes and peaks on the order of 5 to 15%. We also analyze the effect of random TB errors caused by the discrete gauge sampling mechanism. The computed runoff differences caused by the TB random errors were dependent on the magnitude of the runoff discharge, and on the temporal resolution of the rainfall input. However, the effect of random errors was found to be rather small, especially for large discharge.
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 2009
This study investigated the impact of temporal and spatial sampling of rainfall on runoff predict... more This study investigated the impact of temporal and spatial sampling of rainfall on runoff predictions using a physically based ͓System Hydrologique European ͑MIKE SHE͔͒ and conceptual ͓hydrologic modeling system ͑HMS͔͒ hydrologic models. The numerical models were applied to Goodwin Creek watershed in northern Mississippi. The drainage area of Goodwin Creek is approximately 21.4 km 2 . This study showed that MIKE SHE was more sensitive to both the spatial and the temporal samplings of rainfall than the HMS. The study also showed that errors introduced by coarse sampling scenarios can be significant. Overall, for this particular watershed size, increasing the rain gauge density from 1 to 2 resulted in the most significant improvement for both models. Similarly, a temporal sampling frequency beyond 1 h showed significant deterioration in the quality of the runoff prediction. The combined spatial-temporal sampling experiment showed that increasing the temporal sampling compensates, at least partially, for the loss of rainfall spatial information. It also showed that under poor temporal sampling frequency, the gain in model performance by increasing the spatial sampling density is negligible.
Water budget model for a remnant northern Everglades wetland
Journal of Hydraulic Research, 2010
ABSTRACT The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge overlays Water Conservation ... more ABSTRACT The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge overlays Water Conservation Area 1, a 580 km freshwater wetland remnant of the northern Everglades in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. Changes in water quantity and quality have impacted the Refuge ecosystem. Ensuring appropriate management to maximize benefits for wildlife while meeting flood control and water supply needs is a refuge priority. The Simple Refuge Stage Model described herein supports these management decisions. The two-compartment model with a daily time step predicts temporal variations of water level in the refuge rim canal and interior marsh, based on observed inflows, outflows, precipitation and evapotranspiration. The model was used to evaluate various water management scenarios. The modelling approach applied herein may have utility in managing other wetland systems where over-bank flooding is a dominant mechanism, affecting hydrology and water quality.
Simulation of Unsteady Flow in Irrigation Canals with Dry Bed
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 1993
Surface Water Sulfate Dynamics in the Northern Florida Everglades
Journal of Environment Quality, 2009
Sulfate contamination has been identified as a serious environmental issue in the Everglades ecos... more Sulfate contamination has been identified as a serious environmental issue in the Everglades ecosystem. However, it has received less attention compared to P enrichment. Sulfate enters the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), a remnant of the historic Everglades, in pumped stormwater discharges with a mean concentration of approximately 50 mg L(-1), and marsh interior concentrations at times fall below a detection limit of 0.1 mg L(-1). In this research, we developed a sulfate mass balance model to examine the response of surface water sulfate in the Refuge to changes in sulfate loading and hydrological processes. Meanwhile, sulfate removal resulting from microbial sulfate reduction in the underlying sediments of the marsh was estimated from the apparent settling coefficients incorporated in the model. The model has been calibrated and validated using long-term monitoring data (1995-2006). Statistical analysis indicated that our model is capable of capturing the spatial and temporal variations in surface water sulfate concentrations across the Refuge. This modeling work emphasizes the fact that sulfate from canal discharge is impacting even the interior portions of the Refuge, supporting work by other researchers. In addition, model simulations suggest a condition of sulfate in excess of requirement for microbial sulfate reduction in the Refuge.
Numerical Modeling of the Mississippi-Atchafalaya Rivers' Sediment Transport and Fate: Considerations for Diversion Scenarios
Journal of Coastal Research, 2010
Journal of Coastal Research, 2007
HABIB, E.; NUTTLE, W.K.; RIVERA-MONROY, V.H.; GAUTAM, S.; WANG, J.; MESELHE, E., and TWILLEY, R.R... more HABIB, E.; NUTTLE, W.K.; RIVERA-MONROY, V.H.; GAUTAM, S.; WANG, J.; MESELHE, E., and TWILLEY, R.R., 2007. Assessing effects of data limitations on salinity forecasting in Barataria basin, Louisiana, with a Bayesian analysis. Journal of Coastal Research, 23(3), 749-763. West Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.