WRU Workshop: Modeling Flow, Sediment Transport and Bed Evolution in Vietnamese Rivers October 29-30, 2008 Jonathan Nelson USGS Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory Golden, Colorado Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey MD_SWMS Modeling Developments and New Research Directions

MD_SWMS  Generic, model integrated, pre- and post- processing GUI

MD_SWMS  CGNS –Common data structure for reading, writing and storing data associated with CDF applications

Improvements to MD_SWMS Latest release has: 1. SToRM model

Trinity River, Northern California Q = 470 cfs (Q = m 3 /s)

Improvements to MD_SWMS Latest release has: 1. SToRM model 2. Improved sediment transport

Knik River Bridge Scour

Knik River

Improvements to MD_SWMS Latest release has: 1. SToRM model 2. Improved sediment transport 3. Habitat Calculator

Ecogeomorphology: Study of interactions between organisms / ecosystems and landform development and processes Flow Sediment transport Channel morphology Physical habitat Biota Courtesy of Andrew Wilcox

Flows and riparian vegetation: seedling establishment Recruitment Box summer base flow MarchAprilMayJune July (c) seedling desiccation tolerance (b) seed dispersal timing bank elevation (a) site hydrology stage hydrograph Mahoney and Rood 1998; Stella 2005

Fish Habitat

Environment/Recreation Power SupplyWater Supply

Why Model?  Temporal and spatially distributed values  Technology makes it more cost effective  Provide quantitative information  Multidisciplinary tool  Insight

Habitat Model Grid Habitat Layers Hydrodynamic Layers Velocity; Depth; Bed Shear Stress Velocity profile Drift Density Fixed Layers Substrate Spawning Substrate Vegetation Cover Functions SI Velocity Habitat Calculator SI Depth SI Substrate A B C (A * B) 1/n * (C) 1/n Calculated Layers Distance to Cover Distance to Waters Edge Bioenergetics (A * B * C … ) 1/n * (E * F * G…) 1/n Habitat Area Time Habitat Area Discharge Species ASpecies B Species C Habitat Area Exceedance Summary Plots

Habitat Modeling Example  Cory Williams and Paul Diaz, Colorado WSC  Green River, Utah  Downstream of Dinosaur Nat. Mon.  5 Km Study Reach  Availability of suitable spawning substrate  Weighted Usable Area of Larval Humpback Chub

Courtesy Cory Williams and Paul Diaz, Colorado WSC

(Depth X Velocity) ½ (Depth X Velocity) ½ X Dist. To Cover

Future Additions  Bioenergetics –Daily Net Energy Intake  Turbidity  Depth  Velocity  Drift density  Drift size  Temperature  Fish size

Bioenergetics Brown Trout – Blacksmith Fork River, Utah DNEI habitat versus fish locations Dark Colors – High DNEI Light Colors – Low DNEI

Improvements to MD_SWMS Latest release has: 1. SToRM model 2. Improved sediment transport 3. Habitat Calculator 4. New Tutorials

Future Research Directions -IRIC (beta version by 4/09) -Drag and drop models (XML) -More modeling capabilities -More comprehensive graphics -Geographical interface

Future Research Directions -IRIC (beta version by 4/09) -Drag and drop models (XML) -More modeling capabilities -More comprehensive graphics -Geographical interface -Models for constituent transport

Kootenai River

Future Research Directions -IRIC (beta version by 4/09) -Drag and drop models (XML) -More modeling capabilities -More comprehensive graphics -Geographical interface -Models for constituent transport -Models for bedforms