Application of Two‐Dimensional Water Quality Model

Abstract

A two‐dimensional, laterally averaged, finite‐difference hydrodynamic and transport water quality model was applied to DeGray Lake, Arkansas, a reservoir extensively studied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The reservoir was known to exhibit strong longitudinal and vertical gradients in water quality, while lateral variations were generally small. DeGray Lake exhibited dissolved oxygen declines in the metalimnion of the main pool and hypolimnion of headwater regions during summer and fall months. Field data from two separate years were used to calibrate and verify the model. Spatial and temporal variations in dissolved oxygen concentrations and other water quality variables were successfully predicted throughout the stratification cycles.