Episodic weak stratification is a persistent and important feature of the epilimnion of Lake Opeongo. Field studies were conducted in Lake Opeongo in 2009 and 2010 to assess the effect of the epilimnetic weak thermal stratification on turbulent mixing and ecological processes. Near surface thermoclines (as defined by dT/dz > 0.2 ̊C m-1 between 1 m and 2 m) occur approximately 20 % of the time and correspond to periods of high values of gradient Richardson number (Rig). Extended periods of near surface stratification (> 1 hr), account for more than 80% of the stratified period. We compare these findings with previous observations from the Experimental Lakes Area and discuss the biological implications of near surface thermoclines. The persistent weak temperature stratification that characterizes the entire epilimnion of Lake Opeongo, acts to reduce the magnitude of turbulent mixing. During these stratified periods, the values of Rig, increase, with a corresponding decrease in the rates of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy, (ε ), the turbulence activity parameter, I = ε/νN2, and vertical eddy diffusivity (Kz). Mixing during cold fronts occur over time scales of minutes to hours, which work to erode diurnal thermoclines. The direct implications of weak stratification on aquatic organisms are also assessed. The presence of weak stratification also allows for the existence of internal waves within the epilimnion. A key observation in this thesis is the relationship between enhanced small-scale spatial variability in zooplankton distribution and the presence of internal waves in the weakly stratified epilimnion. To quantify this physical-biological coupling, we compare variance of isotherm displacement and gradient Richardson number (Rig) with small-scale spatial distributions of zooplankton. For smaller size ranges of zooplankton (284-450 μm), we find that spatial variability is statistically greatest for the highest values of variability of isotherm displacement. As vertical velocities estimated from wave characteristics are faster than swimming speeds of small zooplankton, these organisms become passively advected by the internal waves leading to increased spatial variability.

Hydropower is a more environmental friendly way of producing electric power than many other alternatives today. Though, the effects of constructing mega dams are much tangible for the local eco systems in addition to changing many people’s lives forever. In order to prevent floods, riverbank erosions or landslides, proper investigations of the environmental impact from dam constructions must be performed. One of the key parameters in such investigations is the flow discharge velocity. This master thesis treats experimental measurements and numerical simulations of the velocity downstream a model of Xiluodu dam. The Xiluodu dam is a mega dam under construction in China and will have a total capacity of 12 600 MW when completed. The model is in scale 1:100 and the experiments have been performed at Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. The velocity profile shows that the velocity in the middle of the river is larger than the velocity at the surface and near the riverbank. The comparison between the measured and the simulated velocities shows a difference of less than 20 percent in almost all points which can be considered as a good result. In those points where the difference is more than 20 percent, this is believed to be due to the position of these points. Some of them were located near a vortex and others very close to the bottom. This is a problem when sparsely measured topography in combination with linear interpolation makes the boundaries of the simulations incorrect. In order to perform better simulations, more densely topography data and better flow boundary conditions should be used. More measuring points of the velocity could also improve the result.

The breaking of internal solitary waves (ISWs) of depression shoaling upon a uniformly sloping boundary in a smoothed two-layer density field was investigated using high-resolution two-dimensional simulations. The simulations were performed for a wide range of boundary slopes S∈[0.01,0.3] and wave slopes. Over steep slopes (S≥0.1), three distinct breaking processes were observed; surging, plunging and collapsing breakers which are associated with reflection, convective instability and boundary layer separation, respectively. Over mild slopes (S≤0.05), nonlinearity varies gradually and the wave fissions into a train of waves of elevation after it passes through the turning point where solitary waves reverse polarity. The dynamics of each breaker type were investigated and the predominance of a particular mechanism was associated with a relative developmental timescale. The breaker type was characterized in wave slope S_w versus S space and the reflection coefficient (R), modeled as a function of the internal Iribarren number, was in agreement with other studies. The same 2D model was applied to investigate boundary layer separation-driven global instability, which is shown to play an important role in breaking of shoaling ISWs. The simulations were conducted with waves propagating over a flat bottom and shoaling over relatively mild (S=0.05) and steep (S=0.1) slopes. Combining the results over flat and sloping boundaries, a unified criterion for vortex shedding is proposed, which depends on the momentum thickness Reynolds number and the non-dimensionalized ISW-induced pressure gradient at the point of separation. The criterion is generalized to a form that may be readily computed from field data and compared to published laboratory and field observations. During vortex shedding, the bed shear stress, vertical velocity and near-bed Reynolds stress were elevated, implying potential for sediment re-suspension. Laboratory experiments were also performed to study three-dimensionality (3D) of global instability. Our results agree with previous laboratory experiments, using the proposed pressure gradient parameter and Reynolds number. The 3D effects prevent the vortices from ascending as high as they do in 2D simulations. The instabilities were not able to re-suspend sediments with 20 µm median diameters, which suggests applying lighter sediments, as finer sediments will be cohesive and dynamically different. / Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2011-12-23 15:03:29.76

[Truncated abstract] Observations are presented from Lake Biwa (Japan) and Lake Kinneret (Israel) showing the ubiquitous and often periodic nature of high-frequency internal waves in large stratified lakes. In both lakes, high-frequency wave events were observed within two distinct categories: (1) Vertical mode one solitary waves with wavelength ˜100-500 m and frequency near 103 Hz and (2) sinusoidal vertical mode one waves with wavelength ˜5-30 m and frequency just below the local maximum buoyancy frequency near 102 Hz. The sinusoidal waves were associated with shear instability and were shown to dissipate their energy sporadically within the lake interior. Conversely, the solitary waves were found to be capable of propagating to the lake perimeter where they may break upon sloping topography, each releasing ˜1% of the total basin-scale internal wave energy to the benthic boundary layer.

[Truncated abstract] The process of selective withdrawal has, over many years, been used as an effective tool for extraction of water of particular quality from stratifed reservoirs. While the formation and steady-state theory of selective withdrawal in a stratifed fluid at rest has been extensively studied, little is known how vertical displacements of stratifcation due to long internal waves affect the water quality of the outflows. The first part of this study investigates the effect of basin-scale internal waves on the water quality parameters in Lake Burragorang, a large water supply reservoir for the city of Sydney, Australia. It is shown from field observations how the steady-state formulation of selective withdrawal can be used to predict the outflow water quality in reservoirs where internal waves are present, with a temperature prediction accuracy within 0.2 oC. . . In order to explain fluctuations in water quality parameters of the outflows, such as turbidity, it is important to know not only the stratifcation conditions in front to the offtake, but also to understand the dynamics of suspended particles in the upper reaches of the reservoir. In the third part of this study, transport and settling of suspended particles was investigated in the Wollondilly arm of Lake Burragorang by combination of direct and inverse methods. The inverse method was modifed to enable the separation of advective and diffusive transport of suspended particles from Stokes settling controlled by gravity, yielding twodimensional fields of particle velocities and settling fluxes in the upper reaches of the reservoir. These estimates are compared to the direct measurements of sedimentation fluxes made by the sediment traps and LISST-100.