On September 17-18 2024, we performed some maintenance on the monitoring equipment at the Ohra Reservoir (Germany) and retrieved the first set of data. This data will help us calibrate the models we are developing. The equipment we deployed included thermistor chains, which continuously measure water temperature at different depths, and an ADCP (accoustic doppler current profiler), which measures the veloctiy of water currents at different depths. Here is a first glimpse of the temperature data, which look good!
The MEWS project had its first Project-Wide in person meeting in between 16-21 June at the UFZ campus in Leipzig Germany. The purpose of the meeting was threefold
To provide all the scientific partners the opportunity to update one another on the progress at their study site to date, and to identify any issues regarding data collection, data processing and modelling that have so far been identified.
To convene a project-wide meeting with the stakeholders at all sites. To present the project and it goals, and to obtain feedback on what water quality issues were of greatest importance to each stakeholder. To discuss how each stakeholder could best interact with the project.
To have a modelling workshop that would allow each site to set up and run a preliminary version of the GETM 3D hydrodynamic model. This will be the modelling starting point for the project simulations.
All of these goals were successfully achieved. Each site provided an overview of progress made. While the MEWS project officially started in mid-April of 2024, work has been ongoing to collect the data needed to begin lake/reservoir model simulations. The data collection efforts were reviewed, especially in regards to the bathymetric and climate data needed to run the GETM model.
We made a trip to the German study site, Ohra Reservoir, where we met directly with the reservoir operators and remotely linking in to the Swedish and Israeli stakeholders. The project was presented and valuable feedback was obtained. In particular, that simulations of changes in reservoir residence time and tracer movement would be of value. Since these are simpler than the biogeochemical process-based simulations we aim for in the future, they are a perfect first step in the modelling development. We also had a fantastic tour of the reservoir watershed and the water control structures including an inside view of the dam and the reservoir’s multi-level intake.
Ohra Reservoir Overflow and Mutilevel inInside Ohra Dam
Finally, three days of our meeting were used largely to get the project lake/reservoir modelling underway. One reason we delayed the kickoff meeting to several months past the project start was to allow us to collect the data needed to set up initial version of the models by Bolding & Bruggeman our partner SME that specializes in model development and applications. The model and the workflow for running simulations were described in detail. By the end of the meeting all sites had a preliminary version of the GETM model running, which will be the starting point for developing tested hydrodynamic simulations and more complex biogeochemical simulations.
The above shows the results of an inital test simulation done at the Kickoff meeting where a conservative tracer was added to the main inflows of Lake Mälaren and its distribution is shown after 2 months time.
On July 1-5 2024, MEWS-researchers Yael Amitai, Muhammed Shikhani, and Jorrit Mesman attended the Physical Processes in Natural Waters (PPNW) workshop in Girona, Spain, and Jorrit presented a poster about the MEWS project. PPNW is a comparatively small workshop/conference, but brings together research around the topic of aquatic physics and creates an open atmosphere for (early-career) researchers to present their research and discuss this with peers and experts. We received good and constructive feedbacks on the issues and challenges that MEWS is addressing, and established connections for future contact as MEWS progresses.
