Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Open Access Master's Report

Degree Name

Master of Science in Environmental Engineering (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Advisor 1

Alex S. Mayer

Committee Member 1

John S. Gierke

Committee Member 2

Jason Gulley

Abstract

The freshwater lens in the island can become the only freshwater resources in some regions. Numerical simulations are used to determine freshwater lens volume and average concentration is in response to the range of sea-level rise rates and climate gradients. The sea-level rise rates (0.56 mm/yr, 6.22 mm/yr, and 11.78 mm/yr) are selected for projected and the climate gradient is computed from the islands in the Bahamian archipelago (Inagua, San Salvador, and Grand Bahamas) in the north, central and south. Based on the simulation results, all cases presented the upward trend of the average salinity but have the oscillation in their 1-year cyclical period. The magnitude of the oscillation changed to accord with the season climate condition. The cases with 11.78mm sea-level rise rate usually have the highest slope in salinity vs. time plot, which means the fastest freshwater lens depletion. The cases with 0.56mm sea-level rise rate have the slowest upward trend which the slope almost equal to 0. The lake expansion scenarios also have a larger slope than the non-lake expansion scenarios. The initial position of the average concentration in Inagua Island is higher than the other two islands because Inagua Island has the driest climate condition so that the initial freshwater lens volume is smaller than the other two islands. Only Grand Bahama Island has a positive recharge in the lake, land and entire island for all three sea-level rise situations and Inagua Island has the largest negative recharge value of the lake. Higher sea-level rise rate would lead to faster lake expansion and land loss.

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