The Great Salt Lake Salinity, How it Affects Evaporation?

Presenter Information

Ibrahim N. Mohammed
David G. Tarboton

Location

Eccles Conference Center

Event Website

http://water.usu.edu/

Start Date

3-28-2006 1:20 PM

End Date

3-28-2006 1:40 PM

Description

The rate of evaporation from the Great Salt Lake (GSL) water surface is a function of local meteorological conditions, the temperature, and the salinity of the water surface. Several factors affect evaporation from free water surfaces. One of these factors is the salinity of the evaporating surface. Previous work studied the hydrology of salt flats and established relative evaporation rates, under natural field conditions, for brines from Bonneville (GSL) containing various amounts of dissolved solids. Other approaches used pan evaporation data to evaluate and quantify the effect of salinity and water chemistry on evaporation. The effect of salinity on evaporation is important for water balance computations and other engineering studies related to terminal lakes of which the GSL is one. The molecular activity of water is reduced as its salinity increases because molecules of dissolved solids interfere with the motion of water molecules. This has the effect of reducing the saturation vapor pressure over a saline water surface. This paper examines the role played by this effect on the GSL evaporation. Analysis of the GSL’s salinity and volume revealed that to a reasonable approximation the total salt load (3,500 M ton) may be taken as constant. We showed that salinity of the GSL reduces the amount of the saturation vapor pressure of the GSL surface by representing the saturation vapor pressure contours of the north and south arms. The results of this study show that salinity has an impact on the evaporation which is controlled by area and affects the GSL level/volume. As the level of the GSL increases, salinity decreases which directly affects the evaporation by increasing the tendency of the water vapor to escape the water surface to the air. This contribution of salinity towards evaporation will be useful in modeling the Great Salt Lake and thereby contributing to understanding of surface hydrology of the whole system that drains to the GSL. Moreover, adding the lake salinity effect in the modeling of the Great Salt Lake system hydrology would improve, and enhance knowledge of interactions between hydrologic processes.

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Mar 28th, 1:20 PM Mar 28th, 1:40 PM

The Great Salt Lake Salinity, How it Affects Evaporation?

Eccles Conference Center

The rate of evaporation from the Great Salt Lake (GSL) water surface is a function of local meteorological conditions, the temperature, and the salinity of the water surface. Several factors affect evaporation from free water surfaces. One of these factors is the salinity of the evaporating surface. Previous work studied the hydrology of salt flats and established relative evaporation rates, under natural field conditions, for brines from Bonneville (GSL) containing various amounts of dissolved solids. Other approaches used pan evaporation data to evaluate and quantify the effect of salinity and water chemistry on evaporation. The effect of salinity on evaporation is important for water balance computations and other engineering studies related to terminal lakes of which the GSL is one. The molecular activity of water is reduced as its salinity increases because molecules of dissolved solids interfere with the motion of water molecules. This has the effect of reducing the saturation vapor pressure over a saline water surface. This paper examines the role played by this effect on the GSL evaporation. Analysis of the GSL’s salinity and volume revealed that to a reasonable approximation the total salt load (3,500 M ton) may be taken as constant. We showed that salinity of the GSL reduces the amount of the saturation vapor pressure of the GSL surface by representing the saturation vapor pressure contours of the north and south arms. The results of this study show that salinity has an impact on the evaporation which is controlled by area and affects the GSL level/volume. As the level of the GSL increases, salinity decreases which directly affects the evaporation by increasing the tendency of the water vapor to escape the water surface to the air. This contribution of salinity towards evaporation will be useful in modeling the Great Salt Lake and thereby contributing to understanding of surface hydrology of the whole system that drains to the GSL. Moreover, adding the lake salinity effect in the modeling of the Great Salt Lake system hydrology would improve, and enhance knowledge of interactions between hydrologic processes.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/runoff/2006/AllAbstracts/24