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Sensitivity Analysis of the model.

Figure 30 displays mean concentration in the North Lake cell versus percentage change in various inputs and parameters.

  figure1932
Figure 30: Sensitivity of lake model to changing inputs and parameters.

The inputs and parameters changed are...

evap
Total evaporation from the lake surface.
rain
Total rainfall directly onto the lake surface.
river
Total river inflow to the lake, (including the Mkuze).
mkuze
The Mkuze river only.
ground
Ground water inflow.
level
The effective sea level. This is a function of the estuary mouth parameters. Varying this effectively varies the depth of the lake.
slope
This is a function of the estuary mouth parameters. A high slope corresponds a wide open, deep, smooth channel, and a low slope to a narrow, shallow, rough channel. Varying this effective changes the relaxation time of the lake, ie. How long it takes the lake to drain to the sea. Opening Potters channel is equivalent to increasing this parameter.
bend
The non-linearity of the estuary mouth. Varying this changes the lakes response to flood conditions.

One can clearly see from the Figure 30 that the system is dominated in order of decreasing importance by...

  1. Evaporation clearly drives the salinity of the lake. Probably the best way to improve the accuracy of this simulation would be to get better evaporation data.
  2. Direct surface rainfall.
  3. River flow.

All other inputs and parameters have almost neglicable effects on the system.



John Carter
Tue Jun 17 09:50:07 SAT 1997