A simple model for describing the heat balance of a shallow lake with application to Lake Chad

A model is described allowing the computation of a shallow lake's surface temperature as a function of the meteorological conditions of the surroundings. An equilibrium temperature with no heat flux through the surface is defined. The daily cycle of the equilibrium temperature permits computation of the average and the amplitude of the lake's temperature in the form of a simple sine wave. The computed values are compared with satellite measurements of the surface temperature and good agreement is achieved. When the computed surface temperature is applied, the values of the fluxes of latent and sensible heat are in good agreement with observational data.