Thermally-Driven Exchange Flows in Regions of Vegetation

This project is designed to build fundamental understanding of the spatial and temporal structure of the exchange flows that evolve between regions of vegetation and open water. The results will enable researchers and lake managers to make better evaluations of how changes in the littoral zone, e.g. due to land development, may impact the lake-scale nutrient budget and ecology. Researchers will use a series of laboratory experiments to observe the formation and magnitude of thermally driven exchange flows between open water and water with vegetation of different morphology. The velocity field will be measured using digital particle imaging velocimetry. Both emergent and submerged canopies will be considered.