Water Temperature Mapping of the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers—Longitudinal Stream Temperature Profiles and Airborne Thermal Infrared and RGB Imagery Mosaics
Dates
Publication Date
2022-08-22
Citation
Restivo, D.E., Diabat, M., Miwa, C., Bright, V.A.L., Seguin, C.M., Boucher, C.D., David, J.E., and Pouley, M., 2022, Water Temperature Mapping of the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers—Longitudinal Stream Temperature Profiles and Airborne Thermal Infrared and RGB Imagery Mosaics: U.S. Geological Survey data release, http://doi.org/10.5066/P9BKVUHK.
Summary
Note: this data release has been depecrated. Find the updated version here: https://doi.org/10.5066/P9FJCM8N. The Skykomish and Snoqualmie River basins in western Washington provide spawning, rearing, and migration habitat for several salmonid species, including Endangered Species Act-listed Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, and bull trout. The production, abundance, distribution, and the health of fish and other aquatic life is strongly influenced by water temperature, which affects their physiology and behavior. The Washington State Department of Ecology establishes water temperature criteria and Total Maximum Daily Load standards for designated aquatic life uses, varying between 12 and 17.5 degrees Celsius, depending on the habitat [...]
The Skykomish and Snoqualmie River basins in western Washington provide spawning, rearing, and migration habitat for several salmonid species, including Endangered Species Act-listed Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, and bull trout. The production, abundance, distribution, and the health of fish and other aquatic life is strongly influenced by water temperature, which affects their physiology and behavior. The Washington State Department of Ecology establishes water temperature criteria and Total Maximum Daily Load standards for designated aquatic life uses, varying between 12 and 17.5 degrees Celsius, depending on the habitat classification and time of year. However, over the past two decades, water temperatures within the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Middle Fork Snoqualmie rivers frequently exceeded water temperature criteria, and the 23 degrees Celsius threshold above which water temperatures can be lethal to salmonids.
To inform salmonid restoration efforts within these basins, this study used high-resolution airborne thermal infrared (TIR) imagery to quantify the longitudinal stream temperature profiles (LTPs) of the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Middle Fork Snoqualmie rivers. This Data Release presents those results with the following items:
Georeferenced, orthorectified TIR and RGB imagery mosaics (.tiff and .sid, respectively) of the Skykomish, Snoqualmie and Middle Fork Snoqualmie rivers, produced by NV5 Geospatial (formerly Quantum Spatial, Inc.), a company specializing in geospatial surveys. The mosaics were made using TIR and RGB images acquired from helicopter-based surveys conducted by NV5 Geospatial during two distinct surveying efforts—August 16-17, 2020, and August 3-5, 2021. The surveys covered a total river length of approximately 133 km, from Goldmyer Hot Springs on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River to Chinook Bend Natural Area on the Snoqualmie River and from Gold Bar to Monroe, WA on the Skykomish River.
LTPs (.shp) produced by NV5 Geospatial and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) using the TIR and RGB mosaics.
In addition to the helicopter-based TIR surveys, longitudinal "Lagrangian" drag-probe surveys (hereafter, "float surveys") were conducted by the USGS and Tulalip Tribes on the Skykomish and Middle Fork Snoqualmie rivers. The surveys covered a total river length of approximately 68 km, from the Taylor River confluence to Three Forks Natural Area on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River and from Gold Bar to Monroe, WA on the Skykomish River. For these float surveys, near-streambed and near-surface water temperature and GPS position were measured at three-second intervals from a non-motorized watercraft drifting downstream at ambient stream velocity. The Skykomish River float survey was conducted over several days between August 24 and September 11, 2020. The Middle Fork Snoqualmie River float survey was conducted over several days between August 17 and September 11, 2020, with a follow-up survey on a reach of interest on August 3, 2021. The resulting LTPs from these float surveys are provided as shapefiles (.shp).
Prior to the TIR and float surveys USGS staff deployed 37 in-stream water temperature data loggers along the study area to record water temperature during the data acquisition time frame. Water temperature records were shared with NV5 Geospatial staff to radiometrically calibrate the TIR imagery and analyze the float survey data. These records also assist in interpreting the results of the float surveys. Data from the in-stream water temperature loggers is available for download through the Washington Department of Ecology's Environmental Information Management System (https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/eim/search/default.aspx; Study ID WQC-2020-00164).
Click on title to download individual files attached to this item.
Water Temperature Mapping of the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers.xml Original FGDC Metadata
View
13.32 KB
application/fgdc+xml
Purpose
This Data Release supports a study to quantify the river temperature heterogeneity and longitudinal water temperature profiles of the Skykomish, Snoqualmie and Middle Fork Snoqualmie rivers, as well as identify Significant Feature Sites—cold-water anomalies and other significant thermal features associated with groundwater flow, hyporheic flow, side channels or tributaries—that could represent thermal refuge and serve as salmonid habitat. Information from this study may be used to guide the design, siting, and prioritization of habitat restoration and protection options for mitigating high water temperatures, with the goal of meeting the water temperature Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements in the Snoqualmie River basin and the water temperature criterion for core summer spawning and rearing habitat in the Skykomish, Snoqualmie and Middle Fork Snoqualmie rivers. In addition, the longitudinal stream temperature profiles produced may be used for calibrating physically based hydrology and water temperature models to predict the effect of land-use management and climate scenarios on fluvial and thermal conditions.
Rights
Users are free to use, copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work for commercial and non-commercial purposes, without restriction, as long as clear attribution of the source is provided. Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.
