A Simple Model of Lake Ontario's Coastal Boundary Layer

Abstract

An empirical forced wave model of currents and thermocline displacements in the coastal zone of Lake Ontario is derived from data from the International Field Year for the Great Lakes (1972). The model consists of three linear wave equations for predicting the depth of the thermocline, its slope and the longshore volume transport from the wind. The empirical phase speeds are consistent with internal Kelvin wave and topographic wave theory and the response to a unit longshore wind stress is consistent with cross-section models of long lakes.