Surface water: Discharge rate and water quality

Abstract

Global changes in climate and land use influence both the quality and quantity of surface water. In the surface water sub-project, discharge and water quality parameters for the Danube drainage basin water network up to gauge Achleiten were calculated using the Rivernetwork component and then made available for other models such as Economy, Tourist and Biological. The main component of the Rivernetwork flow model is a Diffusion Analogy Flow approach, developed by the US Geological Survey (DAFLOW) and adapted to the grid-level processing required here. In addition concepts to model headwater regions and small water bodies, sewer systems, lakes, reservoirs and transfer systems are implemented. The main component for modelling water quality is based on the USGS Branched Lagrangian Transport Model (BLTM), and the components considered are water temperature, dissolved oxygen, a sum parameter for oxygen demand, organic nitrogen, nitrate, nitrite and ammonium. The main map depicts the mean routed discharges within the Upper Danube basin for 1995–1999. The accompanying map indicates the largely satisfactory validation of the DAFLOW model based on Nash-Sutcliffe coefficients