Importance of Coupling the 3D Lake Model to the Regional Climate Model in Simulating the Great Lakes System
Abstract
The world's largest freshwater system, the Laurentian Great Lakes, holds significant environmental, cultural, and economic value for both the region and the nation. They are not only sensitive to regional climate but also a significant regional climate driver. Regional climate models (RCMs) are commonly used for assessing and predicting climate impact. However, RCMs for the Great Lakes region were often configured to be coupled with 1-D column lake models to represent the lake hydrodynamics and lake-atmosphere interaction. Such 1-D models have limitations in resolving the Great Lakes' physical processes due to their sheer size and sea-like characteristics. In this study, the NASA-Unified WRF (NU-WRF) is two-way coupled with the 3-D hydrodynamic model FVCOM to assess regional climate impact over the Great Lakes region during a cold season, aimed at improving the representation of the coupled atmosphere-lake-ice system. Results are discussed with a focus on identifying the 1D vs. 3D hydrodynamic models strengths and weaknesses in simulating the coupled system.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFM.H53E..03X