Modeling the annual thermal regime of lake Ohrid, Yugoslavia, using daily weather data

Abstract

The time-dependent characteristics of the five weather variables which control the annual thermal response of Lake Ohrid are analyzed in detail. These are daily values for solar radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and cloud cover. A simple numerical model of the lake's thermal response, forced by thermally driven density mixing, is developed and tested using observed thermal profiles for verification. The numerical model successfully reproduces the major features of the lake's thermal regime over a 6 y period from 1972 to 1977, the average root mean square value for the simulated profiles being 1.2[deg]C with extremes of 2.2 and 0.3[deg]C and a standard deviation of 0.4[deg]C.