Bathymetric Survey of Snow Hollow Lake near Ironton, Missouri, 2023
Dates
Publication Date
2024-05-01
Date Collected
2023-04-19
Citation
Rivers, B.C., and Huizinga, R.J., 2024, Bathymetric and supporting data for selected water supply lakes in Missouri, 2023: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P13WFERH.
Summary
Water-supply lakes are the primary source of water for many communities throughout Missouri. Therefore, accurate and up-to-date estimates of lake capacity are important for managing and predicting adequate water supply. Many of the water supply lakes in Missouri were previously surveyed by the USGS in the early 2000s (Richards, 2013) and in 2013 (Huizinga, 2014); however, years of potential sedimentation may have resulted in reduced water storage capacity. Periodic bathymetric surveys are useful to update the area/capacity table and to determine changes in the bathymetric surface. Snow Hollow Lake is a water-supply lake used by the city of Ironton in southeastern Missouri. The surface area of Snow Hollow Lake is about 31.5 acres at [...]
Summary
Water-supply lakes are the primary source of water for many communities throughout Missouri. Therefore, accurate and up-to-date estimates of lake capacity are important for managing and predicting adequate water supply. Many of the water supply lakes in Missouri were previously surveyed by the USGS in the early 2000s (Richards, 2013) and in 2013 (Huizinga, 2014); however, years of potential sedimentation may have resulted in reduced water storage capacity. Periodic bathymetric surveys are useful to update the area/capacity table and to determine changes in the bathymetric surface.
Snow Hollow Lake is a water-supply lake used by the city of Ironton in southeastern Missouri. The surface area of Snow Hollow Lake is about 31.5 acres at the full pool level of the primary spillway (1,285.5 feet above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988). A previous bathymetric survey was completed in 2007 with a single-beam echosounder. In April 2023, the USGS, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and in collaboration with the City of Ironton, completed a bathymetric survey of Snow Hollow Lake using a multibeam echosounder. The water-surface elevation during the survey was about 1,285.5 feet. The echosounder data can be combined with light detection and ranging (lidar) data to prepare a bathymetric map and a surface area and capacity table for the lake.
The gridded bathymetric point data (SnowHollowLake2023_bathy_pts.zip) were computed on a 0.82-foot (0.25-meter) grid using the Combined Uncertainty and Bathymetry Estimator (CUBE) method, which is used as the source of points to create the bathymetric surface.
Bathymetric quality-assurance data (SnowHollowLake2023_QA_raw.zip) were collected to evaluate the vertical accuracy of the gridded bathymetric point data.
Each of these two zip files contains a shapefile with an attribute table. Attribute/column labels of each table are described in the "Entity and attribute" section of the associated metadata file.
References Cited:
Huizinga, R.J., 2014, Bathymetric surveys and area/capacity tables of water-supply reservoirs for the city of Cameron, Missouri, July 2013: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2014–1005, 15 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20141005.
Richards, J.M., 2013, Bathymetric surveys of selected lakes in Missouri—2000–2008: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2013–1101, 9 p. with appendix, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20131101.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) Water Resource Center and Missouri's Safe Drinking Water Program has the responsibility of assisting state residents in assuring an adequate and safe water supply. As a result, a water supply study has been ongoing to ensure availability of water information for effective decision-making by communities and MoDNR program managers. One of the benefits of the study is to determine and allocate existing water supplies, with the scope of the study to address surface-water supplies for cities and communities that are expected to experience water shortages during an extended drought. Surface-water supplies consist of lakes and streams, and in many cases, combinations of both. Water-supply lake bathymetric surveys are integral to the water availability assessments during potential water shortages.
