Alaska Rivers Sediment Transport
GSTL staff, including Jon Nelson and Rich McDonald, are working closely with the USGS Alaska Science Center to support the use of the MD_SWMS modeling interface with ongoing projects including:
- Modeling and Monitoring Streambed Scour at Alaska Bridges with Jeff Conaway. See McDonald and others, 2006; and Conaway and Moran, 2004.
- Lower Copper River Dynamics and Geomorphology Project with Tim Brabets.
Example from Knik River: High resolution scour data from the Knik River will be used for validating the Sediment Transport and Channel Evolution modules currently in development for use in MD_SWMS.
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| Knik River near Palmer, Alaska. Flow is from
right to left. |
Knik Scour monitoring data 2002-2005. Streambed elevation is measured every 30 minutes. |
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| Knik Scour monitoring data during high scour
event in 2004 |
Simulated streamwise velocity magnitude during 2004 scour event. |
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| Simulated Water Surface Elevation during 2004 scour event. |
References:
- McDonald, R., Nelson, J., Kinzel, P., Conaway, J., 2005, Modeling Surface-Water Flow and Sediment Mobility with the Multi-Dimensional Surface-Water Modeling System (MD_SWMS): U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2005 – 3078, 6 p. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3078/
- Conaway, J.S., and Moran, E.H., 2004, Development and calibration of a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the Tanana River near Tok, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2004-1225, 13 p. http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1225/