Estimating Water Availability and Under Ice Volume of Alberta Lakes using Minimal Data (original) (raw)
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Lake and Reservoir Management, 2006
Phosphorus is the nutrient that most often limits the primary productivity of inland lakes on the Precambrian Shield. Recognizing the need to develop quantitative relationships to assess the impact of shoreline development on phosphorus concentrations in lakes, the Lakeshore Capacity Model (LCM) was developed by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Canada. The LCM is a steady-state mass-balance model that uses empirical relationships to predict the ice-free total phosphorus concentration of a lake. The model, calibrated and tested on lakes on the Precambrian Shield, has subsequently formed the basis for management decisions in the public and private sectors. Over the past two decades the coefficients, input parameters and assumptions of the LCM have been modified and updated to reflect an improved scientific understanding of the relative importance of sources and losses of phosphorus in lakes and watersheds. Here we present a comprehensive review of the components, coefficients and assumptions of the most recent version of the LCM (v. 3.0), providing a standard reference for all users of the model.
Lake management typologies have been used successfully in many parts of Europe, but their use in Canada has been limited. In this study, a lake typology was developed for 650 lakes within the Muskoka River Watershed (MRW), Ontario, Canada, to quantify freshwater, terrestrial, and human landscape influences on water quality (Ca, pH, TP and DOC). Five distinct lake types were identified, using a hierarchical system based on three broad physiographic regions within the MRW, and lake and catchment morphometrics derived through digital terrain analysis. The three regions exhibited significantly different DOC concentrations (F=15.85; p<0.001), whereas the lake types had significantly different TP concentrations (F=12.88, p<0.001). Type-specific reference conditions were used to identify lakes affected by human activities that may be in need of restoration due to high TP concentrations. Overall, this thesis demonstrates the applicability of new and emerging landscape modelling tools for lake classification and management in Ontario, Canada. xii landscape limnology-a subdiscipline of limnology that studies the multi-scale interactions and processes of the freshwater, terrestrial, and human landscapes that determine aquatic ecosystem variability. local catchment area-the drainage area of a lake that does not include the drainage area of upstream lakes. overburden thickness-depth of glacial deposits that lie above the bedrock. physico-chemical-physical and chemical properties of a lake. pressure criteria-thresholds of human pressures that distinguish impacted lakes from reference lakes. qualitative conceptual model-a simplified representation/understanding of the watershed features which influence water quality. reference conditions-the expected condition (physico-chemical or biological) for a lake with minimal human disturbance. regionalization-geographic units that account for broad scale patterns in terrestrial and/or freshwater features. riparian zone-near-shore area of lake contained within a lake's watershed, for this study it is defined as 300 m from lake's shoreline. river basin-drainage area of major rivers. Schindler's ratio-the sum of the catchment and lake area divided by lake volume. site-specific reference conditions-the undisturbed condition of a specific waterbody, usually determined by modelling. statistically representative-a sample of lakes that encompasses a region's major land cover and hydrogeomorphic gradients. terrestrial landscape-land cover, geology, and catchment morphometry. type-specific reference condition-the expected condition for a given lake type with minimal human disturbance. water residence time-is the average length of time water will stay in an aquatic system. xiii LIST OF ACRONYMS
Empirical models for forecasting changes in the phenology of ice cover for Canadian lakes
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 2013
In situ and remote-sensed data on freeze-up and break-up dates for lakes spread over much of Canada were used to develop and validate simple regression models linking lake ice phenology to climatic conditions and lake morphometry. The primary variables affecting fall freeze-up dates were the fall date when 30-day smoothed air temperatures reached 0°C and lake mean depth; the primary variables affecting spring break-up date were the spring date when 30-day smoothed air temperatures reached 0°C, solar elevation on that date, and the number of days over winter when 30-day smoothed air temperatures were <0°C. These models were used to project potential impacts of climate change on ice phenology across Canada; by 2055 (under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (IPCC SRES) A2 emissions scenario), freeze-up dates were projected to be an average of 10 days later. Break-up dates were projected to be from 0 to 16 days earlier, with greater changes occurring at higher latitudes. These projections were similar to those independently derived using a mechanistic ice phenology model.
Integrated Ecosystem Assessment: Lake Ontario Water Management
PLOS One, 2008
Background: Ecosystem management requires organizing, synthesizing, and projecting information at a large scale while simultaneously addressing public interests, dynamic ecological properties, and a continuum of physicochemical conditions. We compared the impacts of seven water level management plans for Lake Ontario on a set of environmental attributes of public relevance.
Dependence of lake ice covers on climatic, geographic and bathymetric variables
Cold Regions Science and Technology, 2004
Information on lake ice characteristics is of interest to lake users, natural resource managers and researchers. Lake ice data for 143 North American freshwater lakes were assembled and analyzed. The principal data were observed ice-in dates, observed ice-out dates and observed ice thicknesses.
Using rainfall-runoff modeling to interpret lake level data
Using water balance computations, the behavior of different kinds of lakes is discussed. Simple analytical expressions relating water level to hydrological conditions and lake bathymetry are given. The importance of knowing the river basin area when analyzing lake levels is stressed. A conceptual rainfall-runoff model including lake routing is used to simulate runoff and lake levels and to compute quasi-steady state conditions and long-term transient situations. It is suggested that models can be used to construct curves relating lake levels to precipitation and lake evaporation. By comparing with paleo-lake levels, the annual precipitation related to these levels can be found, provided information is available about the seasonal distribution of the precipitation.
Tellus A, 2012
A B S T R A C T Two one-dimensional (1-D) column lake models have been coupled interactively with a developmental version of the Canadian Regional Climate Model. Multidecadal reanalyses-driven simulations with and without lakes revealed the systematic biases of the model and the impact of lakes on the simulated North American climate. The presence of lakes strongly influences the climate of the lake-rich region of the Canadian Shield. Due to their large thermal inertia, lakes act to dampen the diurnal and seasonal cycle of low-level air temperature. In late autumn and winter, ice-free lakes induce large sensible and latent heat fluxes, resulting in a strong enhancement of precipitation downstream of the Laurentian Great Lakes, which is referred to as the snow belt. The FLake (FL) and Hostetler (HL) lake models perform adequately for small subgrid-scale lakes and for large resolved lakes with shallow depth, located in temperate or warm climatic regions. Both lake models exhibit specific strengths and weaknesses. For example, HL simulates too rapid spring warming and too warm surface temperature, especially in large and deep lakes; FL tends to damp the diurnal cycle of surface temperature. An adaptation of 1-D lake models might be required for an adequate simulation of large and deep lakes.
Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 2009
Establishing satisfactory calculation methods of lake evaporation has been crucial for research and management of water resources and ecosystems. A 30 year dataset from Dickie Lake, south-central Ontario, Canada added to the limited long-term studies on lake evaporation. Evaporation during ice-free season was calculated separately using seven evaporation methods, based on field meteorology, hydrology and lake water temperature data. Actual evaporation determined during a portion of a year was estimated using a lake energy budget model, and the estimation was used as reference evaporation for evaluation of the seven methods. The deviation of method-induced evaporation from the reference evaporation was compared among the seven methods, and a performance rank was proposed based on the root mean squared deviation and coefficient of efficiency. As for the whole ice-free season (roughly May to November), the water balance was the best method, followed by Makkink, DeBruin-Kejiman, Penman, Priestley-Taylor, Hamon, and Jensen-Haise methods. As for shorter duration (a week to a month), the DeBruin-Kejiman was the best method, followed by Penman, Priestley-Taylor, Makkink, Hamon, Jensen-Haise, and water balance method. Annual and seasonal changes of energy budget terms and the compensation function of lake heat storage in evaporation flux were also analyzed.