A multi-lake comparative analysis of the General Lake Model (GLM): Stress-testing across a global observatory network

Louise Bruce , Marieke Frassl , George Arhonditsis , Gideon Gal , David Hamilton , Paul Hanson , Amy Hetherington , John Melack (1) , Jordan Read , Karsten Rinke (2) , Anna Rigosi , Dennis Trolle , Luke Winslow , Rita Adrian , Ana Ayala , Serghei Bocaniov , Bertram Boehrer , Casper Boon , Justin Brookes , Thomas Bueche , Brendan Busch , Diego Copetti , Alicia Cortés , Elvira de Eyto , J. Alex Elliott , Nicole Gal , Yael Gilboa , Nicolas Guyennon (3) , Lei Huang (4) , Onur Kerimoglu (5) , John Lenters , Sally Macintyre (6) , Vardit Makler-Pick , Chris Mcbride , Santiago Moreira (7) , Marco Pilotti , Francisco Rueda , James Rusak , Nihar Samal , Martin Schmid , Tom Shatwell , Craig Snorthheim , Frédéric Soulignac , Giulia Valerio , Leon van Der Linden (8) , Mark Vetter , Lei Vinçon-Leite , Junbo Wang , Michaël Weber (9) , Chaturangi Wickramaratne , R. Iestyn Woolway , Huaxia Yao , Matthew Hipsey

1 Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
2 UFZ - Helmholtz Zentrum für Umweltforschung = Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
3 IRSA - CNR Water Research Institute
4 HiCSA - Histoire culturelle et sociale de l'art
5 CARRTEL - Centre Alpin de Recherche sur les Réseaux Trophiques et Ecosystèmes Limniques
6 MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit
7 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
8 Biosystems Division [Roskilde]
9 IGMM - Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier

The modelling community has identified challenges for the integration and assessment of lake models due to the diversity of modelling approaches and lakes. In this study, we develop and assess a one-dimensional lake model and apply it to 32 lakes from a global observatory network. The data set included lakes over broad ranges in latitude, climatic zones, size, residence time, mixing regime and trophic level. Model performance was evaluated using several error assessment metrics, and a sensitivity analysis was conducted for nine parameters that governed the surface heat exchange and mixing efficiency. There was low correlation between input data uncertainty and model performance and predictions of temperature were less sensitive to model parameters than prediction of thermocline depth and Schmidt stability. The study provides guidance to where the general model approach and associated assumptions work, and cases where adjustments to model parameterisations and/or structure are required.

Mots clés: GLM; lake model; stratification; global observatory data; network science

Mots clés: model assessment

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

Louise Bruce, Marieke Frassl, George Arhonditsis, Gideon Gal, David Hamilton, et al.. A multi-lake comparative analysis of the General Lake Model (GLM): Stress-testing across a global observatory network. Environmental Modelling and Software, 2018, 102, pp.274-291. ⟨10.1016/j.envsoft.2017.11.016⟩. ⟨hal-02070282⟩