Author(s)

Torben Larsen

Abstract

It is a general experience that complete deterministic water quality models for aquatic systems most often show surprisingly poor agreement when it comes to comparison between model estimates and measurement in the actual system. Often this discrepancy is misunderstood as a lack of complexity and/or an in- complete formulation of the involved varied processes. But in this introduction to a debate it is argued that the explanation usually lies in the high complexity of the models in relation to the limited data available for the calibration of model constants. Two examples are given. 1 Introduction Computer models play an increasing role in water quality assessments in relation to human impact on water systems like rivers, lakes and estu

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