2. Setting up LakeEnsemblR

Introduction

A key part of developing LakeEnsemblR was to develop a standardised format for model input data. This involved standard variable naming which includes units.

DateTime formatting

This package uses international standard format for date and time (ISO 8601), which is YYYY-mm-dd HH:MM:SS. For example: 2020-04-03 09:00:00.

Time Zones

Currently this is not accounted for so the timezone used in input is the timezone of output data. It is on the list of things to do.

Hypsograph data

The data needs to be a comma separated values (.csv) file where 0m is the surface and all depths are reported as positive. Area needs to be in meters squared. The column names must be Depth_meter and Area_meterSquared

Example of data:

Depth_meter,Area_meterSquared
0,3931000
1,3688025
2,3445050
3,3336093.492
4,3225992.455
5,3133491.11
6,3029720
...

Temperature Profile data

The data needs to be a comma separated values (.csv) file where the datetime column is in the format YYYY-mm-dd HH:MM:SS. Depths are positive and relative to the water surface. Water temperature is in degrees Celsius. The column names must be datetime, Depth_meter and Water_Temperature_celsius

Example of data:

datetime,Depth_meter,Water_Temperature_celsius
2004-01-05 00:00:00,0.9,6.97
2004-01-05 00:00:00,2.5,6.71
2004-01-05 00:00:00,5,6.73
2004-01-05 00:00:00,8,6.76
...

Meteorological data

The data needs to be a comma separated values (.csv) file where the datetime column is in the format YYYY-mm-dd HH:MM:SS. See table 1 for the list of variables, units and column names.

Table 1. Description of meteorological variables used within LakeEnsemblR with units and required column names.

Description	Units	Column Name	Status
Downwelling longwave radiation	W/m2	Longwave_Radiation_Downwelling_wattPerMeterSquared	If not provided,it is calculated internally from air temperature, cloud cover and relative humidity/dewpoint temperature
Downwelling shortwave radiation	W/m2	Shortwave_Radiation_Downwelling_wattPerMeterSquared	Required
Cloud cover	-	Cloud_Cover_decimalFraction	If not provided,it is calculated internally from air temperature, short-wave radiation, latitude, longitude, elevation and relative humidity/dewpoint temperature
Air temperature	°C	Air_Temperature_celsius	Required
Relative humidity	%	Relative_Humidity_percent	If not provided,it is calculated internally from air temperature and dewpoint temperature
Dewpoint temperature	°C	Dewpoint_Temperature_celsius	If not provided,it is calculated internally from air temperature and relative humidity
Wind speed at 10m	m/s	Ten_Meter_Elevation_Wind_Speed_meterPerSecond	Either wind speed or u and v vectors is required
Wind direction at 10m	°C	Ten_Meter_Elevation_Wind_Direction_degree	Not required, but if provided u and v vectors are calculated internally
Wind u-vector at 10m	m/s	Ten_Meter_Uwind_vector_meterPerSecond	Either wind speed or u and v vectors is required
Wind v-vector at 10m	m/s	Ten_Meter_Vwind_vector_meterPerSecond	Either wind speed or u and v vectors is required
Precipitation	mm/hr or mm/day	Precipitation_millimeterPerHour or Precipitation_millimeterPerDay	Not strictly required but is important for mass budgets in some models
Rainfall	mm/hr or mm/day	Rainfall_millimeterPerHour or Rainfall_millimeterPerDay	Required
Snowfall	mm/hr or mm/day	Snowfall_millimeterPerHour or Snowfall_millimeterPerDay	If not provided,it is calculated internally from rain when air temperature < 0 degC
Sea level pressure	Pa	Sea_Level_Barometric_Pressure_pascal	Not required
Surface level pressure	Pa	Surface_Level_Barometric_Pressure_pascal	Required
Vapour pressure	mbar	Vapor_Pressure_milliBar	If not provided,it is calculated internally from air temperature and relative humidity/dewpoint temperature

Inflow data

The data needs to be a comma separated values (.csv) file where the datetime column is in the format YYYY-mm-dd HH:MM:SS. See table 2 for the list of variables, units and column names. Providing inflow data is optional.

Table 2. Description of inflow variables used within LakeEnsemblR with units and required column names.

Description	Units	Column Name	Status
Discharge volumetric flow rate	m3/s	Flow_metersCubedPerSecond	Required
Water temperature	°C	Water_Temperature_celsius	Required
Salinity	PSU	Salinity_practicalSalinityUnits	Required

LakeEnsemblR YAML configuration file

There is an example yaml configuration provided in the example dataset in the package or you can download a copy from GitHub here.

You will need to update each of the required variables in the location block to reflect your own site.

location:
   name: Feeagh                                 # station name used in output [default=GOTM site]
   latitude: 53.9                               # latitude [degrees North; min=-90.0; max=90.0; default=0.0]
   longitude: -9.5                              # longitude [degrees East; min=-360.0; max=360.0; default=0.0]
   elevation: 15                                # elevation of lake surface above sea level [m]
   depth: 46.8                                  # maximum water depth [m; min=0.0; default=100.0]
   hypsograph: LakeEnsemblR_bathymetry_standard.csv                 # hypsograph [default=]
   init_depth: 46.8                             # initial height of lake surface relative to the bottom [m]

Then input the filepaths to the bathymetry, meteorlogical and water temperature profile observations file. For first time users we would recommend to set up a folder with just these three files plus the LakeEnsemblR yaml configuration file.

Now you should be ready to run LakeEnsemblR on your site.