Open AccessOptimizing Lake Surface Water Temperature Simulations Over Large Lakes in China With FLake Model
Author(s) -
Huang Ling,
Wang Xuhui,
Sang Yuxing,
Tang Shuchang,
Jin Lei,
Yang Hui,
Ottlé Catherine,
Bernus Anthony,
Wang Shenglei,
Wang Chenzhi,
Zhang Yuan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
earth and space science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.843
H-Index - 23
ISSN - 2333-5084
DOI - 10.1029/2021ea001737
Subject(s) - flake , environmental science , plateau (mathematics) , climatology , precipitation , atmospheric sciences , albedo (alchemy) , climate change , physical geography , geology , meteorology , oceanography , geography , materials science , art , mathematical analysis , mathematics , performance art , art history , composite material
Lake surface water temperature (LSWT) is sensitive to climate change; however, simulated LSWT and its response to climate change remain uncertain. In this study, FLake, a one‐dimensional freshwater lake model, is optimized to simulate the LSWTs of 94 large lakes with surface areas greater than 100 km 2 in China. While most of these lakes are seasonally ice‐covered over the Tibetan Plateau, FLake with default parameters significantly underestimated LSWT in spring and winter and slightly overestimated LSWT in summer and autumn in seasonally ice‐covered lakes. We performed sensitivity experiments and calibration in the trial lake (Qinghai Lake). Then, parameter calibrations of three lake‐specific properties (albedo, lake mean depth and light extinction coefficient) were performed in all the studied lakes. The optimized FLake substantially improved the simulations of seasonal and interannual variations in LSWT. The root mean square error decreased from 3.64 ± 1.54°C to 1.97 ± 0.72°C, and the mean bias of 96% of the lakes decreased to less than 1°C. Our study showed that the optimized FLake can reproduce the temporal variations in LSWT across China with optimized parameters, providing the possibility to simulate and project the response of LSWT to rapid climate change.