World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2020
A Frequency Domain Analysis on the Great Lakes Water Level Fluctuations and River Inflows
Publication: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2020: Groundwater, Sustainability, Hydro-Climate/Climate Change, and Environmental Engineering
ABSTRACT
Frequency domain analysis of hydrological time series has been widely used to find the relations between hydrologic processes and climate variability. The periodic changes in global climate systems, occurring in periods from years to decades, can affect water resources. This study aims to find significant frequency components of the Great Lakes water level fluctuations as well as the river discharge using spectral analysis and assess their relationships through coherency analysis. Results will be a good representative of inter-annual to multi-decadal variability of natural flows in the rivers and the Great Lakes water level fluctuations. This will improve our understanding of the Great Lakes ecosystem and its natural climate variabilities. Finding the dominant frequencies of climate variability is crucial as it is still acting on our planet, and it may be more influential in the future due to the change in climate as a result of human activities. For this purpose, historical water level data of Lake Michigan along with historical streamflow data of the lake’s major inflowing rivers (Fox River, Menominee River, and Grand River) are used. Results show that, despite the changes in land use and climate in recent decades, there are still similar significant frequency components in lake water level and river discharge. This ongoing study aims to separate the natural variability of the water resources in the Great Lakes system from variations caused by external sources. This finding will insight for the Great Lakes water resources planning and management.
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Published In
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2020: Groundwater, Sustainability, Hydro-Climate/Climate Change, and Environmental Engineering
Pages: 125 - 134
Editors: Sajjad Ahmad, Ph.D., and Regan Murray, Ph.D.
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8296-4
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© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Published online: May 14, 2020
Published in print: May 14, 2020
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