About the Lake Washington Real-time Temperature Simulation

DSI developed the Lake Washington Real-time Temperature as an example of a real-time data and modeling facility to serve the scientific community in Seattle, WA. The major goals of the model are to:

  • Better understand the temperature in Lake Washington in real-time.
  • Visualize meteorological impacts on temperature in Lake Washington.
  • Raise awareness in the community about water quality issues.
  • Help regulators understand tools that can be developed to solve water quality issues in Seattle, WA.

Features of the RT Model

  • Automatic gathering of data from internet and sensors, interpret and store the data in a database.
  • Automatic generation of inputs and daily simulations on a Windows OS workstation.
  • Provide access to real-time visualization of observations and model outputs using a Web browser.
  • Online 2D visualization and animations overlay on Google Maps and OpenLayers using NetCDF-UGRID.
  • Support data extraction and visualization in time series plots, vertical and longitudinal profiles.

Numerical Model Driving the RT Model

The simulation engine core is EFDC+ (Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code), an open source, general-purpose modeling package which can simulate 1D, 2D, 3D flow, transport, and biogeochemical processes in surface water systems including rivers, lakes, estuaries, reservoirs, wetlands, and near-shore to shelf-scale coastal regions. DSI has developed EFDC+ with MPI/OMP Hybrid that supports multi-threading, streamlines the modeling process, generates netCDF-CF outputs and links to pre- and post-processing tool EFDC_Explorer.

Input Data for the RT Model

Model Results

  • Water surface elevation
  • Flow velocity
  • Water temperature
  • Bed temperature

Areas of Application

The system can be a powerful tool for water quality and environmental monitoring in lakes, reservoirs, rivers and streams, estuaries and coastal areas.