Sediment rating curves, which are fitted relationships between river discharge (Q) and suspended-sediment concentration (C), are commonly used to assess patterns and trends in river water quality. In many of these studies, it is assumed that rating curves have a power-law form (i.e. C= aQ, where a and b are fitted parameters). Two fundamental questions about the utility of these techniques are ...

Six years (1998–2003) of SeaWiFS multispectral satellite data are used to document the seasonal and interannual variability of the Columbia River plume on the North American west coast. A supervised classification scheme using 5 channels of normalized water-leaving radiance (nLw at 412, 443, 490, 510 and 555 nm), with training pixels adjusted temporally to optimize the signature of plume core c...

In the State of Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) is the NPDES permitting authority who sets color limits for a recreational water use color narrative under the auspices of EPA review that requires effluent discharge to be free of objectionable color, but the narrative lacks numeric guidance on how to determine an acceptable discharge color. The City of ...

Floodplains and river corridor wetlands may be effectively managed for reducing nutrients and carbon. However, our understanding is limited to the reduction potential of these natural riverine systems. This study utilized the long-term (1978–2004) river discharge and water quality records from an upriver and a downriver location of the Atchafalaya River to quantify the inflow, outflow, and infl...

Papers published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions are under open-access review for the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Abstract This paper presents an attempt of simulating daily fluctuations of river discharge at global scale. Total Runoff Integrating Pathways (TRIP) is a global river routing model which can help to isolate the river basins, inter-basin transport ...

A comprehensive methodology to assess the hydrokinetic potential of a reach of the Tanana river near Nenana, Alaska, is developed to help determine the suitability of the reach for installing and operating hydrokinetic electric turbines. The methodology utilizes field measurements and two-dimensional model simulations to define the discharge, velocity, power density, turbulence, and Froude numb...

The functioning of large river systems with adjacent floodplains is strongly influenced by the flood pulse. This phenomenon is the main structuring force for the biota, including fish communities that use floodplain environments for spawning, feeding, nursery and refuge. In floodplains and in the entire basin, the volume of water controls internal flows. During rising water, the high discharge ...

The tailings pile at the Atlas site near Moab Utah releases ammonia and other pollutants to the Colorado River through the groundwater pathway. Current releases may exceed standards for the protection of fish and fish larvae in the river. This report addresses whether a tight clay cover on the pile would reduce releases of ammonia from the pile, and lead to concentrations in the river that comp...