A 3D unstructured grid Lake Champlain model for flood and hydrodynamics forecasting

Session: Hydraulics, Hydrology, and Human Interactions in the Lake Champlain/Richelieu River Basin

Haoguo Hu, CIGLR, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, hghu@umich.edu
Dmitry Beletsky, CIGLR, SEAS, University of Michigan, beletsky@umich.edu
Eric Anderson, NOAA/GLERL, eric.j.anderson@noaa.gov
Jesse Feyen, GLERL, jesse.feyen@noaa.gov
Philip Chu, NOAA/GLERL, philip.chu@noaa.gov

Abstract

A 3D unstructured grid FVCOM model with wetting-drying scheme is developed for Lake Champlain to forecast floods and hydrodynamics of the lake. The model is run for 2011 using observed river inflows and modeled water levels are compared to measurements at Burlington, White Hall, Rouses Point, and Philipsburg. For annual simulation, average error is about 5 cm in rivers only case, and about 8 cm in a case when both rivers and wind are included. Model hindcasts reveal that bottom friction is critical for accurate modeling of water level.