Investigation over the Interaction of Lake Urmia Wave Pattern and Causeway Using Meteorological Models and Computational Fluid Dynamics

As the largest inland lake and one of the most valuable aquatic ecosystems in Iran, Lake Urmia has experienced critical decrease in its water level. Large scale climatological changes in the northwest of Iran as well as the human-involved factors are considered as the main reasons in this regard. On the other hand, by changing the flow conditions in the lake, the need for a thorough study of its hydrodynamic condition is felt more than ever. Therefore, simulation and analysis of waves in the lake have been taken into account. For this purpose, MIKE21 SW is used for wave simulation. Due to the inadequacy and insufficiency of available wind data, numerical model of WRF is implemented. The results of wind simulations indicate significant improvements in predictions compared to ECMWF model and can be considered as final wind data for the implementation of wave model. Also, the results of the evaluations show that the direction of the south-east to the north-west and vice versa are generally two dominant directions for storms over the lake. The results also indicate that the growth of waves follows the wind velocity, and is completely dependent on the water depth. Eventually, wave model studies of the lake can be used as a basis for other related studies such as flow hydrodynamic, water quality and lake ecology studies