Contaminant Transport and Spill Reference Tables for the St. Clair River

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThe goal of this work is to calibrate a real-time hydrodynamic model for spill tracking in the St. Clair River and to provide decision makers with information for response planning and in the event of a spill. In order to provide experimental validation data, three dye releases were carried out to simulate movement of a potential contaminant in the river. Measurements of dye concentration were used to provide estimates of lateral and vertical mixing as well as travel time of the dye cloud. Model simulations were able to recreate the dye movement and concentrations with model-estimated arrival times within 14 min of the observed plume arrival times and concentrations within 0.005 normalized concentration units of the observed concentrations (which ranged from 0.06 to 0.004).Following model calibration, a set of spill scenarios was chosen to encompass the types and locations of spills commonly experienced in the St. Clair River. These spill scenarios were then simulated with the HECWFS model to predict transport characteristics such as plume leading edge travel time, duration, concentration, and cross-channel mixing. Results from the scenarios were compiled into reference tables in which spill characteristics are listed at several downstream transects. These spill reference tables provide water intake operators with information before the event of a spill, enabling decision makers to plan for potential or common spills as well as providing a quick reference library that can be accessed immediately after a spill is detected to aid in mitigating the effects on drinking water supply.

Simulating Impacts of Precipitation on Ice Cover and Surface Water Temperature Across Large Lakes

“…FVCOM is a three‐dimensional, free‐surface, primitive equation, sigma‐coordinate oceanographic model that solves the integral form of the governing equations. FVCOM has been applied in several studies of the coastal ocean, including successful application to operational forecasting in the Great Lakes (E. J. Anderson et al, 2010, 2015, 2018; E. J. Anderson & Schwab, 2012, 2013; Bai et al, 2013; Niu et al, 2015; Luo et al, 2012). In this work, the model is configured separately for Lake Superior, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, while Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are handled by the same model as the lakes are connected by the Straits of Mackinac and form a single system.…”

“…Anderson et al, , 2015Anderson et al, , 2018; E. J. Anderson & Schwab, 2012Bai et al, 2013;Niu et al, 2015;Luo et al, 2012). In this work, the model is configured separately for Lake Superior, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, while Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are handled by the same model as the lakes are connected by the Straits of Mackinac and form a single system.…”

“…FVCOM has been applied in several studies of the coastal ocean, including successful application to operational forecasting in the Great Lakes (E. J. Anderson et al, , 2015Anderson et al, , 2018E. J. Anderson & Schwab, 2012Bai et al, 2013;Niu et al, 2015;Luo et al, 2012).…”