A new method for numerical representation of the land-water boundary in lake circulation models (Q1816751)

A finite difference method is described, in which the land-water boundary is approximated using a sequence of oblique piecewise linear segments, which slice through the grid elements. Velocity information along the segmented boundary is computed using a slip boundary condition, and is subsequently interpolated to nearby computational points of the rectangular grid. Numerical predictions using the new approach are compared with predictions from the traditional stepped boundary model and with an analytic solution for the depth-averaged solution of linearized wind-driven flow in a lake.