The development of a GIS-based water quality model

摘要

Water quality models have been extensively used to assist in managing estuaries and other water bodies for the past two decades and more. Such models are used to predict water circulation patterns, advection and diffusion of material and to simulate various biochemical processes associated with water quality. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are also widely used in the planning and management of estuaries. GIS is extremely useful for visualisation of modelling and measurement results and for the analysis of these results. In this paper details are presented of the development of a water quality model within a GIS framework. The numerical engine used by the author for water quality modelling is DIVAST (Depth Integrated Velocity and Solute Transport) and the GIS system is Arc View 3.1. The primary object of the work was to develop a model that could be used by non-experts in water quality modelling to set up, execute and analyse various water quality modelling scenarios for specific domains; details of this GIS system are presented.