Application of a wind-driven hydrodynamic model for the quantification of transport in an open boundary canal-lakes system in sw Friesland, The Netherlands

Abstract

The south western lake district is a part of the “boezem”, a system of interconnected lakes and canals in the province of Friesland. The lake district has open boundaries with the other part of the boezem system. However, discharges in the boundary canals are unknown. These discharges are needed for modelling the phosphorus dynamics in the study area. Incidental water flow measurements gave a good indication of the complex water transport in the study area, but continuous water flow recording was not possible. Consequently, discharges could not be measured directly. In order to quantify the discharges, the water transport in the area was modelled by the application of a detailed wind-driven hydrodynamic model. In the model hourly mean values of wind data and water levels at the boundary locations were used as forcing functions. Model tuning was done by comparing observed and computed water levels of three stations within the system. This approach is new in surface water systems in The Netherlands. Therefore, a sensitivity analysis was done and it was verified whether the model results were reliable. The sensitivity analysis showed that the sensitivity was low for modifications of the wind exponent value and rather high for the bottom roughness coefficient. Simulations with daily or weekly mean wind and water level data resulted in an undesirable loss of detail. The sensitivity for noise at the imposed water levels at the boundary locations was moderate. The calculated discharges were used as forcing functions for a chloride mass balance model. Calculated chloride concentrations coincided with measured concentrations in three lakes, during three periods. From this it was concluded that the discharges were reliable. The simulations also lead to the quantification of the water balance and water residence times in the lakes.