1. Title, Journal and Authors

Title: Numerical simulation of water age and its potential effects on the water quality in Xiangxi Bay of Three Gorges Reservoir

Journal: Hydrology

Authors: Qifeng Gaoa,1, Guojian Hea,⁎,1, Hongwei Fanga,⁎, Sen Baib, Lei Huanga

 

2. Summary

During the hydroelectric power generation project, Three Gorges Dam was built in China. Dam construction has many advantages but green algae occurred frequently in the tributaries of the reservoir. In this study, three-dimensional fluid dynamics and water quality simulations were performed using the EFDC (Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code) model to find the main causes and key factors of the algae blooms.

 

And research is conducted to get answers to the three questions:(a) why did algal blooms occur mostly in the tributaries but not in the mainstream? (b) how can the hydrodynamic conditions and their differences in the mainstream and tributaries be characterized quantitatively? Or what indicator can be used to represent the hydrodynamic conditions? (c) how can the effects of hydrodynamics on the water quality and algal blooms be analyzed quantitatively?

 

3. Originality and Creativity

In this paper, the following research was conducted to answer each question.

(a) The generation of algae in the main stream and tributary is different due to the difference in the distribution of the transport process and water age.

(b) The transport process could be quantified using water age, and this was a good indicator of hydrodynamic differences.

(c) Two empirical equations were created that relate 'chl-a concentration' to 'water temperature and water age'.

 

4. Application to research

The concept of water age would be useful for numerical models in that it interprets the chl-a concentration and the algae occurrence region as a spatial distribution.

 

5. Contact

Ma, Kyoung Rim / M.S. program

 

Environmental Systems Engineering Lab.

School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Engineering

Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology

1 Oryong-dong Buk-gu Gwangju, 500-712, Korea

 

Phone : 010-5058-6832

E-mail : dkvmfhelxp34@gm.gist.ac.kr