Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2007UT80B

Development and Calibration of a Hydrodynamic Model for Utah Lake

Institute: Utah
Year Established: 2007 Start Date: 2007-03-01 End Date: 2008-02-29
Total Federal Funds: $21,886 Total Non-Federal Funds: $65,069

Principal Investigators: Robert Spall, Barton Smith

Project Summary: Utah Lake represents a critical habitat for endangered species found in the Provo River watershed, especially the June Sucker. Understanding of critical habitat and water quality issues in the lake would be substantially enhanced if a calibrated hydrodynamic model of lake circulation were available, but to date, no such model exists. The purpose of the proposed project is to develop and calibrate a model of lake circulation that will be capable of providing information useful for understanding lake hydrodynamics and temperature distributions as they are affected by forcing functions (e.g., inflows, outflows, evaporation, wind, energy flux). Further, such a model could also provide the hydrodynamic boundary conditions that would be needed for future water quality modeling that would, for example, provide greater insight into nutrient cycling in the lake.