Application of Salish Sea model: water quality improvement through anthropogenic nutrient reductions
Presentation Abstract
Salish Sea includes a network of coastal waterways spanning the southwest British Columbia (Canada) and northwest Washington State (USA) and includes the major waterbodies, the Strait of Georgia, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. The Salish Sea Model was developed by PNNL in cooperation with Ecology based on the unstructured FVCOM model for hydrodynamics and the CE-QUAL-ICM model for water quality. The model is forced by river and wastewater inflows, tides, wind and solar radiation. The land based freshwater inputs include almost 100 wastewater plants (municipal and industrial) as well as another 100 or so watershed inflows that have direct discharge into the Salish Sea. These sources contribute anthropogenic loadings of nutrients to the Salish Sea. An assessment of the model’s response to reference conditions as well as current conditions gives us a sense of the extent of water quality impacts due to anthropogenic nutrient loads alone. An overview will be presented that will include model response from our latest model scenarios with various reductions of anthropogenic nutrient loads and how the model responds to these reductions. This will set the stage on how we may approach a “nutrient management strategy” to reduce/eliminate the impact of anthropogenic nutrient loads on dissolved oxygen.
Session Title
Understanding the Salish Sea Model and its Application for Puget Sound Recovery
Conference Track
SSE15: Data and Information Management
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2018 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
SSEC Identifier
SSE15-166
Start Date
4-4-2018 2:00 PM
End Date
4-4-2018 2:15 PM
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Water quality management--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Water--Dissolved oxygen--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Included in
Fresh Water Studies Commons, Marine Biology Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons
Application of Salish Sea model: water quality improvement through anthropogenic nutrient reductions
Salish Sea includes a network of coastal waterways spanning the southwest British Columbia (Canada) and northwest Washington State (USA) and includes the major waterbodies, the Strait of Georgia, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. The Salish Sea Model was developed by PNNL in cooperation with Ecology based on the unstructured FVCOM model for hydrodynamics and the CE-QUAL-ICM model for water quality. The model is forced by river and wastewater inflows, tides, wind and solar radiation. The land based freshwater inputs include almost 100 wastewater plants (municipal and industrial) as well as another 100 or so watershed inflows that have direct discharge into the Salish Sea. These sources contribute anthropogenic loadings of nutrients to the Salish Sea. An assessment of the model’s response to reference conditions as well as current conditions gives us a sense of the extent of water quality impacts due to anthropogenic nutrient loads alone. An overview will be presented that will include model response from our latest model scenarios with various reductions of anthropogenic nutrient loads and how the model responds to these reductions. This will set the stage on how we may approach a “nutrient management strategy” to reduce/eliminate the impact of anthropogenic nutrient loads on dissolved oxygen.
