HYDRAULIC RESIDENCE TIMES FOR THE LAURENTIAN GREAT-LAKES

被引:120
作者
QUINN, FH
机构
[1] Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48105-1593
关键词
RESIDENCE TIMES; FLUSHING RATES; WATER QUALITY; GREAT LAKES; CLIMATE CHANGE;
D O I
10.1016/S0380-1330(92)71271-4
中图分类号
X [环境科学、安全科学];
学科分类号
08 ; 0830 ;
摘要
The Laurentian Great Lakes comprise one of the major water resources of North America. For many water quality studies the hydraulic residence times or replacement times of the Great Lakes serve as measures of how quickly water quality will change in response to changes in contaminant loadings. The residence time for a conservative substance represents the average time a conservative substance which remains dissolved in the water spends in a lake. The hydraulic residence times of conservative substances for the Great Lakes are relatively long ranging, from close to 200 years for Lake Superior to a little over 2 years for Lake Erie. A major reduction of 38 years was found in the residence time for Lake Michigan (62 years as compared with the 100 year value previously reported) due to the consideration of flow exchange between Lakes Michigan and Huron. This indicates that Lake Michigan may respond much faster to reductions in contaminant loadings than previously expected. Because of their low ratio of volume to outflow, only Lakes Erie and Ontario are affected by normal climatic variations of less than 20 years in duration. Extreme lake level conditions over the period of 2 to 8 years can also significantly affect the residence times of Lakes Erie and Ontario. Thus high levels in the early 1970s may have contributed to the improvement of water quality in Lake Erie. Existing diversions and potential global warming appear to have no significant effect on residence times.
引用
收藏
页码:22 / 28
页数:7
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