Modeling the impacts of water transfer on water transport pattern in Lake Chao, China

Water transport pattern plays an important role in determining water and pollution transport, and is worth our investigation. In this study, a hydrological model (Xinanjiang) and a hydrodynamic model (Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code, EFDC) were coupled to investigate the impacts of a water transfer project on the water transport pattern of Lake Chao, China. The Xinanjiang model simulated the inflow discharges for the EFDC model. The validation results were acceptable with a Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of 0.74 and 0.84 for the Xinanjiang and EFDC models. Based on the calibrated models, four simulations were implemented and compared to evaluate the impacts of the water transfer project on the water transport pattern, described by water age and residence time. The simulation results revealed that the water transfer project had the potential to shorten water age and residence time of the lake, however, should be carried out by considering the influences of wind conditions and water transfer route. This study demonstrated a successful adaption of water age and residence time for describing water transport pattern, and highlighted the importance of model coupling approach in addressing multidisciplinary questions from the complex natural ecosystem.