The impact of spring breakup ice on stream channel morphology in

northern New England

By Jaime Craig

Photograph by Devin O’Brien

Distribution of

Distribution of historic ice jam events in New England

Difficulty in studying ice breakup

• Hydrometric gauging stations are useless under icy conditions

• Water height isn’t a good representation of stream activity

Significance of river ice formation

Ice jam formation

Effect on sediment erosion

• Increase in turbidity

• Discharge during ice breakup is two to five times greater discharge during the open-water period. (Prowse, 1993)

• Increase to 291 mg/L (at 2,280 m3/sec) just before breakup and to a peak of 331 mg/L (2,480 m3/sec) during the final ice run. (Milburn and Prowse, 2000)

• Ice scouring

Andrew M. Tuthill, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Ice scouring

Tunbridge, VT, March 1999

Bridge collapse

ReferencesBeltaos, S. and A. Kääb, 2014: Estimating river discharge during ice breakup from

near-simultaneous satellite imagery. Cold Regions Science and Technology, vol. 98, p. 35-46

Marsh, P., L. Lesack and A. Roberts, 1993: The environmental effects of icejam flooding on lakes in the Mackenzie Delta. NHRI Symposium No. 12, p. 359-381.

Marsh, P. and M. Hey, 1989: The flooding hydrology of Mackenzie Delta lakes near Inuvik, NW.T., Canada. Arctic, 42, p. 41-49.

Pearce, C.M., 1991: Monitoring white spruce communities on the Mackenzie Delta with satellites.

NHRI Symposium No. 4, National Hydrology Research Institute, pg. 107-120.

Prowse, T.D., 1995: River ice processes. In Beltaos, S., ed. River ice jams. Highlands Ranch, CO, Water Resources Publications.

Prowse, T.D., B.R. Bonsal, C.R. Duguay and M.P. Lacroix, 2007. River-ice break-up/freeze-up: a

review of climatic drivers, historial trends and future predictions. Annals of Glaciology, v. 47, p. 443-451.