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Buoyancy glider observations for modeling distinct water quality zones in Lake Ontario
Citation:
McKinney, P., T. Hollenhorst, AND J. Hoffman. Buoyancy glider observations for modeling distinct water quality zones in Lake Ontario. State of Lake Ontario Virtual Conference, Duluth, MN, March 09 - 11, 2021. https://doi.org/10.23645/epacomptox.14179523
Impact/Purpose:
Hydrodynamic models that simulate physical conditions including temperature and currents are important for understanding the fate and distribution of nutrients, plankton and pollutants. However, the dataset for model calibration is generally limited to a small number of stations or surface conditions from remote sensing. This research compares high resolution observations of Lake Ontario water temperature obtained using an autonomous glider to hydrodynamic model output and discusses how real-time glider observations could advance modeling efforts.
Description:
Models of Great Lakes physical conditions, food webs and biogeochemical cycles depend on observations of physical and biological parameters for calibration. High resolution observations from autonomous gliders represent a potentially rich dataset for Great Lakes model calibration. Using observations of water quality obtained in autonomous glider deployments in southern Lake Ontario during early and late summer 2018, we evaluate alongshore and cross shore gradients, and compare the glider-based observations to hydrodynamic model output. Glider deployments resulted in over 3,000 vertical profiles covering nearshore (2 km from shore and less than 40m water depth) and offshore (20 km from shore and greater than 100m water depth) regions between the Niagara River and Rochester, NY. The early summer cross-shore temperature gradient was characterized by the transition between stratified conditions nearshore and isothermal conditions offshore, known as the thermal bar. In late summer the lake was fully stratified. In this presentation, we compare the glider-based observations to stratification metrics from available buoy and hydrodynamic model output and discuss the potential for incorporating glider observations into models used for characterizing and monitoring distinct water quality zones in the Great Lakes.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Buoyancy glider observations for modeling distinct water quality zones in Lake Ontario