Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

The US Geological Survey is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research in harmful algal blooms. The purpose of the proposed project is to develop a hydrodynamic and water-quality model of a 16-mile reach of the upper Illinois River known as the Starved Rock Pool. The Starved Rock Pool is known to experience harmful algal blooms. The model will be 2-dimensional in the vertical and longitudinal directions and averaged over the lateral direction. A 2-dimensional grid will be generated, and water balance, hydrodynamic, and temperature calibrations will be performed in developing the model. Real-time water quality and streamgage data will provide time series data for model boundary conditions. Discrete velocity and temperature profiles will be measured in the water column at several locations within the study reach to provide model calibration data. Model output will consist of 2-dimensional, laterally averaged hydrodynamic and water temperature time series. The model will be used to give insight into the roles that hydrodynamics and temperature play in the process of the development of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the study reach.