Assessment of ecosystem health of tropical shallow waterbodies in eastern India using turbulence model

Abstract

In the present study, a numerical model of the hydrodynamic and thermal structure of artificial shallow lakes in eastern India has been developed as a tool to assess the ecological water quality, driven by the meteorological forcings. It allows quantification of the vertical mixing processes that govern not only the thermal structure but also nutrient exchanges and the distribution of dissolved and particulate matter among water layers. Vertical temperature profiles were calculated by solving coupled partial differential equations for temperature (heat energy balance equation), one-dimensional momentum equation and a second order closure scheme for small-scale turbulence effects, i.e. turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent dissipation rates numerically using an implicit time integration method. The effect of advection due to the inflow and outflow is not taken into consideration as these shallow waterbodies are assumed to behave as a closed lake. The oxygen level measured at different layers during the simulation period in these waterbodies reflects hypolimnetic oxygen depletion due to the thermal stratification in the aquatic environment. The changes in the stratification regime in these waterbodies are expected to affect the water quality and the health of the ecosystem, primarily based on temperature and dissolved oxygen parameter and in particular, the certain features of the oxygen resources of the hypolimnion.