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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Watershed Physical Processes Research » Research » Research Project #438913

Research Project: Database of Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Stream System Morphologic Attributes

Location: Watershed Physical Processes Research

Project Number: 6060-13000-029-012-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 1, 2020
End Date: Aug 31, 2025

Objective:
The overall objective is to develop a database of geometric and routing attributes for streams located in the Mississippi portion of the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Plain, colloquially referred to as the Mississippi Delta. Specific objectives are: 1. Enhance pyRiverBed for use in the Mississippi Delta. 2. Characterize channel bathymetry of meandering streams using pyRiverBed. 3. Compile generated stream system geometric attributes. 4. Derive topology of the MS Delta stream system.

Approach:
Specific tasks are: 1) Further develop and test the Cooperator's model pyRiverBed on select reaches of meandering streams in the MS Delta using observed river bathymetry collected by ARS; 2) Develop technology to extract channel width, slope, and planform curvature from a combination of 2009 lidar of the Mississippi Delta and other remotely sensed data such as Landsat; 3) Develop spatial relationships of channel depth as a function of other stream system geometric attributes (e.g., width, slope, drainage area, etc.); 4) Generate meandering river bathymetry throughout the MS Delta for derived channel width, depth, slope, and curvature information using pyRiverBed; 5) Combine meandering stream geometric attributes with similar data of straight streams into a database; and 6) Develop the topology (incl. flow direction) of the Mississippi Delta stream system.