Linking catchment and hydrodynamic models for environmental flow analysis in hypersaline lakes

This research work proposes a novel method of environmental flow analysis in hypersaline lakes in which the outputs of the hydraulic rating method considering the base flow as a known approach for environmental flow assessment in rivers are analyzed in terms of providing suitable aquatic habitats in the lake by linking a continuous hydrological model and a hydrodynamic model of salinity simulation. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) as a hydrological model was applied to simulate the natural inflow of the lake's ecosystem in the simulated period. Moreover, a hydrodynamic model was applied to simulate the salinity distribution of the lake in the same simulated period. Based on the results of the models and monthly analysis of the environmental flows, both models are robust for simulations. The Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) of both hydrological and hydrodynamic models average more than 0.5, which means that they are reliable for simulating the natural inflow and salinity distribution respectively. Furthermore, outputs indicated that using the hydraulic rating method considering the base flow for assessing the environmental flow of rivers is not able to provide environmental requirements in the lake's ecosystem of the case study.