Steven F. DalyCold Regions Research and

Engineering LaboratoryHanover, NH

Recent work in Snowmelt Hydrology and Ice

Hydraulics at ERDC/CRREL

Recent work in Snowmelt Hydrology and Ice

Hydraulics at ERDC/CRREL

Overview

• Simulation of Flow in Rivers with Ice

• Ice Jam Database

• Snowmelt Hydrology

• Evaporation

• Remote Sensing and River Ice

• Wrap-up

Simulation of Flow in Rivers with Ice

• HEC-RAS w/Ice– Steady Flow – estimate ice jam thickness for wide-

river breakup jams– Unsteady Flow – known ice cover thickness and

roughness – user input– New: Ice information can be output to GeoRas for GIS – Coming: Improvements to the ice jam computations:

• flow through jam• allow jam to contact bed

– Further: 1-D ice model to model from open water to ice cover and back again

Simulation of Flow in Rivers with Ice

• DynaRice – 2-D model with ice– Discrete Parcel Model

• ADH – 2-D model with fixed, known ice cover

• Hydraulic Data Assimilation – HyDAS– Calculates ice or user can enter– Estimates ice cover roughness “on the fly” by

assimilating intermediate stages– Originally developed for Missouri River at Pierre, now

applied to the St Clair River

NO

NE

0.40.60.81.01.2

1.41.61.82.02.2

Flo

w (

cm

s)

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

5500

6000

6500

8 22 5 19 2 16 2 16 30Dec2002 Jan2003 Feb2003 Mar2003

Sta

ge (

METER

S)

174.7

174.8

174.9

175.0

175.1

175.2

175.3

175.4

175.5

CONV. SECTION 3 IAHR 1 CONV. ADJ CONV. SECTION 3 IAHR 2 CONV. ADJ CONV. SECTION 3 IAHR 3 CONV. ADJ ALGONAC IAHR 1 FLOW ALGONAC IAHR 2 FLOW ALGONAC IAHR 3 FLOWROBERTS LAND COE-EST STAGE ALGONAC COE-NOAA STAGE

Ice impact period

HyDAS

Stage

Discharge

Conveyance

Ice Jam Database

• Over 17K entries• Information is taken from NWS bulletins

– Flood statements, flood advisories, Flood watch, Hydrologic Discussions, River Statements, etc, etc

– Any release that mentions ice, or jam

• Other sources• Work with Districts and Divisions with ice jam flooding:

site visits, advice, etc• MWF Briefs for USACE Operations Center at HQ; map

in EngLink• No standardized ice jam reporting format by NWS• Further: IJDB will be automated

Through 14 Jan 2010

https://rsgis.crrel.usace.army.mil/icejam/

Snowmelt Hydrology

• Focus has been adding/improving snow modeling capabilities to HEC-HMS– SSARR temperature index snow model

• Air temperature and Precipitation• Requires melt factor and other parameters• Modes:

– Subbasin– Elevation bands– Gridded

Kajakai Reservoir Afghanistan

HEC-HMS

• Coming: Increased snow information output to DSS

• Coming: Complete energy-balance snow model– All modes of heat transfer

• Sensible, latent, short wave (sunlight), long wave• Ground heat transfer• One layer snow model• Albedo estimation

Operational Forecasting with HMS

• Initial snow conditions on the ground• Daily

– Convert NOHRSC gridded snow model results to HEC-DSS gridded objects

– Secure copy the results to the User’s folder– Available for forecast run.

• Currently: Moreau, Big Sioux, Grand• Coming: :

– James R, Chatfield Watershed; Omaha District– Red R of the North, Sheyenne R; St Paul District

Evaporation Model

• A physically based- bulk flux method• 1D simulation of reservoir water temp

– Thermal Diffusion– Wind mixing– Density mixing

• Uses NWS met data, Long wave and short wave models, reservoir geometry; water surface elevation

• Currently being programmed in CWMS for most reservoirs in the Omaha District

Evap

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

C

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

EVAP OBS WT1 EVAP CALC WT1

Salt Lake 14 PawneeSalt Lake 14 Pawnee

Satellite Imagery of River Ice and Snow

• CRREL has shown that satellite imagery, AVHRR, can be used to map snow covered area in the Great Plains

• Although it has great promise, satellite imagery has not, to date, been a practical tool for monitoring river ice conditions

• Problems: resolution, scheduling, latency, and clouds

Satellite Imagery of River Ice

• Resolution: less than 10m– Eliminates optical satellites with daily

coverage: MODIS, AVHRR– Commercial satellites: QuikBird – clouds

• Scheduling and Latency: – RADARSAT is difficult to schedule and

latency is 24hours to 3 days or longer– Best to schedule in advance

Wrap-up

• Continued work– HEC-RAS with Ice– HEC-HMS snowmelt

• Ice Jam Database: only national resource on river ice jams

• Evaporation

• Remote Sensing of River Ice: work in progress