A filling‐box model of river‐dominated lakes

A dynamical model of river‐lake interaction is used to quantitatively examine the physical behavior of the Kamloops Lake‐Thompson River system in British Columbia. Analysis is based on the so‐called filling‐box method which predicts the thermal stratification of the lake relative to hydrological conditions; specifically the river's effect on thermocline formation and decay, convective overturn, heat exchange, and particle residence time are examined. The model can be used to simulate the effects of hypothetical developments in the watershed and to examine physical processes relevant to the release of pollutants upstream.