Lake Superior Hydrodynamic Model Simulations for 2010-2012

2010-2012 three-dimensional coupled ice-ocean Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) simulations of Lake Superior. The dataset contains hydrodynamic variables like circulation, temperature, and water surface elevation, produced by NOAA and validated against 2010 buoy and mooring observations. It specifically captures a documented August 2010 coastal upwelling event.

Use Cases

• Analyzing coastal upwelling dynamics using water velocity (eastward, northward, upward) and temperature fields.
• Validating or improving regional hydrodynamic models with simulated water surface elevation and circulation data.
• Studying ice-ocean coupling in a large lake using outputs from the integrated UG-CICE model.
• Investigating spatial patterns of lake temperature and currents using nodal latitude, longitude, and sigma layer data.

Strengths

• Model outputs are validated against 2010 temperature observations from NOAA buoys and mooring data.
• Simulations successfully reproduced a specific, observed August 2010 upwelling event along the northwestern coast.
• Uses a high-resolution, unstructured-grid model (FVCOM v3.1.6) with custom modifications for wind-wave mixing.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, specific license, and author are not provided by any source.
• There is a conflict in the last updated date: Data.gov lists 2026-03-06, while NASA Earthdata lists 2012-12 31.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Three-dimensional coupled ice-ocean Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) hydrodynamic simulations, forced by North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) atmospheric data.

Time Range

2010-01-01 to 2012-12-31

Freshness

2026-03-06 00:03:37.980801

Geography

Lake Superior, Great Lakes region