Zusätzliche Informationen

Welcome to the FLake Community

FLake is a freshwater lake model capable of predicting the vertical temperature structure and mixing conditions in lakes of various depth on time scales from a few hours to many years. Thank to the extremely high computational efficiency achieved by self-similarity parameterization of the main physical transport mechanisms, the model is especially suitable for computationally critical environmental applications, such as climate modelling and numerical weather prediction. FLake is a perfect tool to be used as a physical module in models of aquatic ecosystems and as a powerful aid in the educational process. For further reading, application examples, publications and model downloads visit the FLake main site.

FLake-Global

Get Your Favorite Lake Modelled... Right Now!
The online version of FLake allows calculation of the approximate temperature and mixing pattern in any shallow freshwater lake around the world in less than one minute. Everything you need to know are the geographical coordinates, average depth of the lake and some estimate of lake water clarity. Apart from providing with the outlook of the FLake functionality, FLake-Global helps answering many frequently asked questions about lakes
  • "What is the typical surface temperature in the lake LL at the day DD of the month MM?"
  • "Does the lake surface freeze in winter?"
  • "At which depth the strong temperature drop (thermocline) occurs?"
  • ..and many others.

In that way, FLake-Global can be of practical interest for many people, as for example:

  • Researchers looking for information on typical seasonal temperature course, stratification pattern, mean ice cover duration in a lake, where no measurements are available;
  • Fishermen, anglers, divers interested in the vertical position of the thermocline in order to locate the fish habitats;
  • Anyone wno plans to spend holidays at an outlying lake in unpopulated area and wants to know if the water temperature will be good for bathing during that time.

Model configuration

External forcing of the model is adopted from the Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) Archive. It consists of 3-hourly, global, 1 degree latitude longitude datasets of main meteorological parameters as provided by the GDAS model output of National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). Currently, the data sets cover the one-year period from November 2005 to November 2006 (a hydrological year). The model is run for several years applying repeatedly the same 2005/2006 meteorological data unless the model output arrives at the steady-state year cycle. Although such output cannot be directly considered as climatic mean (which would imply using of the climatic mean meteorology input), the procedure provides with a kind of approximation to it, simulating the artificial situation of a "perpetual year" 2005/2006.