Application of lake model SALMO to the Meiliang Bay of Taihu Lake
湖泊水质模型SALMO在太湖梅梁湾的应用

The lake model SALMO (Simulation by Means of an Analytical Lake Model) was applied to simulate the water quality of the Meiliang Bay in Taihu Lake. The model includes 8 state variables: nitrate nitrogen, phosphate phosphorus, detritus, dissolved oxygen, biomass of three algae (Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta) and zooplankton. Because SALMO was originally developed for non-shallow lakes (maximum depth>5 m), some improvements were made to SALMO before simulating the shallow Meiliang Bay. The data from the year 2005 were used for model calibration and the data from the year 2006 were used for model verification. The results showed that the modeled biomass of the three algae followed the observed seasonal patterns: Bacillariophyta and Chlorophyta were dominant from the end of winter to the beginning of spring, while Cyanophyta was dominant in summer and autumn. The modeled nutrient concentrations also showed a good agreement with the observations. This indicates that after improvement SALMO is applicable for Taihu Lake and can be used to study the mechanisms of algae bloom.