Measurement-derived heat-budget approaches for simulating coastal wetland temperature with a hydrodynamic model

Wetlands
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Abstract

Numerical modeling is needed to predict environmental temperatures, which affect a number of biota in southern Florida, U.S.A., such as the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), which uses thermal basins for refuge from lethal winter cold fronts. To numerically simulate heat-transport through a dynamic coastal wetland region, an algorithm was developed for the FTLOADDS coupled hydrodynamic surface-water/ground-water model that uses formulations and coefficients suited to the coastal wetland thermal environment. In this study, two field sites provided atmospheric data to develop coefficients for the heat flux terms representing this particular study area. Several methods were examined to represent the heat-flux components used to compute temperature. A Dalton equation was compared with a Penman formulation for latent heat computations, producing similar daily-average temperatures. Simulation of heat-transport in the southern Everglades indicates that the model represents the daily fluctuation in coastal temperatures better than at inland locations; possibly due to the lack of information on the spatial variations in heat-transport parameters such as soil heat capacity and surface albedo. These simulation results indicate that the new formulation is suitable for defining the existing thermohydrologic system and evaluating the ecological effect of proposed restoration efforts in the southern Everglades of Florida.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Measurement-derived heat-budget approaches for simulating coastal wetland temperature with a hydrodynamic model
Series title Wetlands
DOI 10.1007/s13157-010-0053-7
Volume 30
Issue 3
Year Published 2010
Language English
Publisher Springer
Contributing office(s) Florida Water Science Center
Description 14 p.
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title Wetlands
First page 635
Last page 648
Country United States
State Florida
Other Geospatial Everglades National Park
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