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Model Construct and Calibration of an Integrated Water Quality Model (LM2-Toxic) for the Lake Michigan Mass Balance Project
Citation:
ZHANG, X., K. R. RYGWELSKI, R. ROSSMANN, J. PAUER, AND R. G. KREIS, JR. Model Construct and Calibration of an Integrated Water Quality Model (LM2-Toxic) for the Lake Michigan Mass Balance Project. ECOLOGICAL MODELLING. Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 219(1-2):92-106, (2008).
Impact/Purpose:
To document research results.
Description:
The Lake Michigan Mass Balance Project (LMMBP) is a part of the Enhanced Monitoring Plan (EMP) for Lake Michigan (McCarty, et al., 2006). PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) were one of the targeted pollutants studied in the project. As one of the components in the overall LMMBP modeling framework, the LM2-Toxic model was developed to simulate fate and transport of PCB congeners in the Lake Michigan ecosystem. The main focus of the LM2-Toxic model was to address the relationship between sources of PCBs and their resultant concentrations in water and sediments of Lake Michigan and identify key environmental processes that strongly influence mass fluxes of the targeted pollutants in the lake. The ultimate goal of the project modeling task was to provide the capability of forecasting the long-term responses of the lake to various natural and management action scenarios (Zhang et al., 2007). The model is sophisticated and state-of-the-art in terms of describing physical and biochemical processes within an aquatic system. Three organic carbon sorbents (biotic carbon, particulate detrital carbon, and dissolved organic carbon) and 54 PCB congeners are simulated as individual state variables. Using 1994 and 1995 project-generated field data, the organic carbon solids dynamics were calibrated first. This was followed by the calibration of PCB dynamics. The results from the calibrations indicate that, in general, the model produced a good fit between the simulations and observed cruise data.