Estimation of Heat and Hydrologic Budget of Upper Klamath Lake Oregon, USA Using Updated DLM-WQ Model

Estimation of lake hydrologic budgets is essential for sustainable water management due to increasing water demand and uncertainties related to climate change. The updated turbulent diffusion transfer algorithms were developed and incorporated in the DLM-WQ model developed at UC Davis to estimate the Upper Klamath Lake’s dynamics, and heat and hydrologic budget. The exchange coefficients for latent heat (C_EN), sensible heat (C_HN), and wind drag (C_D) of the turbulent diffusion model were calibrated using coefficient of correlation as the objective function. The agreement between estimated and measured lake water elevation and temperature are found to be excellent with correlation coefficients 0.99 and 0.95, respectively. The heat and hydrologic budgets are more sensitive to evaporative heat loss (35 %) than sensible heat exchanges (11 %). The stream inflow and lake outflow dominate the hydrologic budget with approximately 47 % due to stream inflow and approximately 44 % due to lake outflow. Precipitation directly on the lake and evaporation from the lake are only 3 % and 6 %, respectively. The lake mixes to the bottom sporadically during spring and summer. Estimated deep mixing for the period 1994–1996 shows the lake’s increasing stability without a deep mixing event for approximately 4 months during summer in 1996. Prolonged stratification in the hypereutrophic lake is expected to lead to hypoxia near the sediment surface resulting in exacerbation of existing ecological problems. The DLM-WQ model can be applied to a broad range of lakes/reservoirs with selection of appropriate C_EN and C_HN value for lake/reservoir dynamics and water resources planning evaluation.