Abstract
A two dimensional explicit finite element hydrodynamic model was developed to study near shore flow circulation near the mouth of the Niagara River discharge into Lake Ontario and to investigate the influence of grid spatial resolution on the model results. An extensive set of numerical experiments was carried out, using more than 40 different numerical grid meshes. Lagrangian tracer paths were calculated to illustrate the flow trajectories under different hydrodynamic forcing conditions and good comparison with field data reported in the literature is shown. Spatial step sizes of slightly less than 100 m were found to be sufficient for modeling near-shore flow structure, while much larger steps (several km) were used farther off-shore. This model allows a better understanding of the effects of various forcing conditions (primarily wind) on the flow and mixing characteristics of the Niagara River discharge and formation of the coastal boundary current along the southern shoreline of Lake Ontario.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 897-909 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Great Lakes Research |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1999 |
Keywords
- Coastal current
- Drifter trajectory
- Finite element model
- Hydrodynamic model
- Lake Ontario
- Near-shore flow field
- Niagara River
- Numerical mesh
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