Lake hydrodynamics intensify the potential impact of watershed pollutants on coastal ecosystem services
Open Access
- 12 March 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by IOP Publishing in Environmental Research Letters
- Vol. 15 (6), 064028
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab7f62
Abstract
Watersheds deliver numerous pollutants to the coastline of oceans and lakes, thereby jeopardizing ecosystem services. Regulatory frameworks for stressors often focus on loading rates without accounting for the physical dynamics of the receiving water body. Here, we use a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model to simulate the transport of a generic tributary-delivered anthropogenic pollutant within Lake Michigan based on the location and timing of loading. Simulating pollutant plumes from 11 rivers, and their intersections with coastal ecosystem services, reveals strong mediation of potential impacts by lake physics. Trapped pollutants accumulate in nearshore waters during spring peak flows, and become diluted by spreading offshore during the summer. The threat to coastal ecosystem services posed by pollutant loading differs sharply among rivers; high potential impact arises from the spatiotemporal coincidence of tributary input rates, lake mixing dynamics, and multiple human uses of the shoreline. Simultaneous pollution from multiple rivers yields overlapping plumes, creating a second way in which lake hydrodynamics can amplify potential impacts on coastal ecosystem services. Our simulations demonstrate that the physical dynamics of large water bodies can create a dynamic stressor landscape arising from multiple independent sources of non-point-source pollution. The design and implementation of pollution regulations rarely account for spatial and temporal complexities of load processing in receiving waters, yet the resulting variability is likely to strongly mediate impacts on society. As hydrodynamic models improve, our analytical framework could be applied to a wide range of pollutants and waterbodies to enhance the sustainable use of coastal ecosystems.Keywords
Funding Information
- Columbia University
- Department of Interior Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit:
- Using social media to quantify nature-based tourism and recreationScientific Reports, 2013
- Joint analysis of stressors and ecosystem services to enhance restoration effectivenessProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012
- Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS), with an Application to Chesapeake Bay River Inputs1Jawra Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2010
- A Global Map of Human Impact on Marine EcosystemsScience, 2008
- Selected Features of the Distribution of Chlorophyll along the Southern Shore of Lake SuperiorJournal of Great Lakes Research, 2004
- The Spring Runoff Event, Thermal Bar Formation, and Cross Margin Transport in Lake SuperiorJournal of Great Lakes Research, 2004
- A finite‐volume, incompressible Navier Stokes model for studies of the ocean on parallel computersJournal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 1997
- Oceanic vertical mixing: A review and a model with a nonlocal boundary layer parameterizationReviews of Geophysics, 1994
- Thermal structure and circulation in the great lakesAtmosphere-Ocean, 1989
- The Structure of the Spring Thermal Bar in Lake Superior, IIJournal of Great Lakes Research, 1976