Hydraulic Characteristics and Suspended Sediment Loads during Spring Breakup in Several Streams Located on the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, USA

Horacio Toniolo, Dragos Vas, Peter Prokein, Richard Kenmitz, Erica Lamb, Dave Brailey

Brailey Hydrologic Consultants, Anchorage, USA.
Bureau of Land Management, Arctic Field Office, Fairbanks, USA.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, USA.
Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, USA.
Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/nr.2013.42028                

Abstract

This article presents results from a broad field campaign involving discharge and surface-water slope measurements, water sampling, and longitudinal river-bed profile surveys. During the spring breakup of 2011, fieldwork was carried out in several pristine streams located in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska; the studied streams cover two main regions: 1) foothills (Ikpikpuk River, Seabee Creek, Prince Creek, and Otuk Creek); 2) coastal plain (Fish Creek, Judy Creek, and Ublutuoch River). Reported data includes basic geometric and hydraulic characteristics such as channel width and depth, cross-sectional area, average velocity, friction factor, shear stress, suspended sediment concentrations from autosamplers and grab samples, and dune dimensions and steepness ratios. The measured discharge in different streams ranged from 2 to 853 m³/s, which corresponded to post-breakup and near peak conditions, respectively. The temporal variation of Manning’s n was in phase with measured discharge, with high values of n associated with the presence of floating ice during the measurements. Calculations indicate that sediment particle sizes ≤2 mmmoved during the measurements. In general, variations in discharge were accompanied by changes in suspended sediment concentrations.

 

Keywords

Suspended Sediment Concentration; Bedforms; Resistance Coefficient; Spring Breakup; Arctic Hydrology

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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