Recalibration of the Lake Okeechobee Water Quality Model (LOWQM) to extreme hydro-meteorological events

R. Thomas James

Ecological Modelling, 2016, vol. 325, issue C, 71-83

Abstract: The Lake Okeechobee Water Quality Model (LOWQM) was developed using an enhanced version of WASP5 to improve understanding of nutrient cycling – specifically total phosphorus – and to assess lake-wide averaged nutrient and algal responses to management alternatives. Previously, the LOWQM was calibrated/validated to hydro-meteorological and monitoring data from 1983 to 2000. Subsequently, a series of extreme hydro-meteorological events, including three hurricanes and two major droughts, occurred from 2005 to 2008 that were outside the range of observations in this original LOWQM model calibration (original simulation). These events affected the light environment, nutrients and phytoplankton communities in the lake. The LOWQM was recalibrated and revalidated (new simulation) to the time period 1983–2012. When compared to the original simulation using the same set of forcing functions (e.g. flow, rain, temperature, nutrient loads, and resuspension of sediments), there were some improvements in model predicted nitrogen and phytoplankton, based on goodness-of-fit measures to observed data. Major differences between the two simulations were found in nutrient cycles. The differences in these cycles and the similarity of goodness-of-fit measures between the new and original simulations indicate the importance of sediment-water interactions and the effect that model structure (e.g. equations) have on the ability to improve calibration results. Further evaluation of these two simulations suggest that model accuracy can be improved through changes of model segmentation, additional lake sampling of biological processes simulated by the LOWQM, and revising model equations to allow for variation in algal nutrient to carbon ratios and uptake rates of nitrogen.

Keywords: Lake Okeechobee; Water quality model; Extreme events; Sediment water interactions; Algal dynamics; Calibration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380016000260
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:325:y:2016:i:c:p:71-83

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.01.007

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Modelling is currently edited by Brian D. Fath

More articles in Ecological Modelling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().