Circulation in Lake Ontario: Numerical and Physical Model Analysis
Yuan Hui, David Farnham, Joseph F. Atkinson, Zhenduo Zhu, Yanping Feng
Abstract
The validation of numerical models for large lakes is difficult because of sparse field observations. In this study, a Froude-Rossby scaled physical model of Lake Ontario, North America, is used to support numerical simulations. Experimental data are consistent with available field observations and provide a more comprehensive view of lake-wide features that include, in the absence of wind, strong eastward flows along both northern and southern shorelines, a large cyclonic gyre in the Rochester basin, and smaller midlake cyclonic eddies. With a west wind (most common direction), a well-defined westward flow in the middle of the lake separates an anticyclonic gyre in the north from a cyclonic gyre in the south. A review of numerical models shows that most models can capture general features of these observed patterns but do not always reproduce all details, especially in nearshore regions. A numerical model based on the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC), with a 200-m resolution in nearshore regions, is developed.