Folders: ROOT > ScienceBase Catalog > Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) > Upper Mississippi River Basin Data Portal ( Show direct descendants )
322 results (86ms)
Location
Folder
ROOT _ScienceBase Catalog __Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) ___Upper Mississippi River Basin Data Portal Filters
Date Range
Extensions Types
Contacts Categories Tag Types Tag Schemes |
The Long Term Resource Monitoring Program conducted monitoring of submersed aquatic vegetation in Pool 8 of the Upper Mississippi River System in 1995. A rapid assessment technique was used to sample 45 transects in eight backwaters during two sampling windows (spring and summer). Sixteen species from 10 families were recorded. The number of species increased from spring (13) to summer (15). Zannichellia palustris L. was found only during the spring sampling period, while Vallisneria americana L., Heteranthera dubia (Jacq.) MacM., and Najas flexilis (Willd.) Rostk. & Schmidt were found only in summer. Lawrence Lake had the most species (15), and the Boomerang Island area had the least (6). Frequency of vegetated...
The Environmental Management Technical Center is responsible for developing a geographic information system for the Upper Mississippi River System. To assure useful products are developed with a high degree of quality assurance and quality control, the Analysis Team for the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program recommended that standards and conventions for data organization, coding, storage, and transmission be written. This document includes contract specifications for the acquisition of aerial photography, aerial mapping services (contour mapping), digital scanning services, photo interpretation, vector digitizing services, and digital image processing. In addition, file documentation standards are included to...
To determine the characteristics of waves generated by recreational craft within the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), 246 controlled runs were made at an Illinois River site and a Mississippi River site. Data showed that recreational boats can generate from 4 to 40 waves per event, with a mean of about 10 to 20 waves. Average wave heights varied from 0.01 to 0.25 meter, with a median of about 0.06 to 0.12 meter. The maximum wave height was as much as 0.6 meter. The data were used to develop a regression equation for estimating maximum wave heights on the basis of the speed, draft, and length of the oats, and their distance from the measuring point. Data from uncontrolled boating events on the Mississippi River...
The objective of this review was to evaluate the ability of existing models and modeling approaches to explain and predict temporal changes in fish abundance in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) based on environmental factors. Information on models was obtained through a literature review and personal contacts with Federal and academic specialists. Models were evaluated based on their assumptions, data requirements, outputs generated, and applicability to UMRS fishes. Many existing models can incorporate environmental effects on fish populations, but none were developed specifically for large rivers. The models reviewed were of three types: analytical, empirical, and mechanistic. Of these three model types,...
Describing the status of the Upper Mississippi River is a continuing function of the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program. Some ecologically important characteristics that serve as indices of overall system status include depositional habitats, vegetation, invertebrates, fish biodiversity, and our capability to apply information to achieve ecological goals. Individual conditions, however, must be regarded as elements of a comprehensive ecological perspective. The filling of depositional aquatic habitats has been measured sufficiently to identify this as the major long term resource problem in navigation pools. However, extrapolating sedimentation rates from one location to another for the purpose of focusing rehabilitation...
Habitat rehabilitation is one of several alternatives available to a river management agency. Costs to rehabilitate even small areas of a system as large and complex as the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) are high. During the course of planning and implementing rehabilitation projects, certain pieces of critical information need to be identified and accessed. Items of information fall into four categories: system objectives and action levels, system status, causal factors, and evaluations of management alternatives. We use examples from the environmental and management history of the UMR to demonstrate the roles of these pieces of information in the management process and especially how they relate to decision making...
Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is an exotic species which was imported into the United States in 1963 to control aquatic vegetation. Individuals escaped from ponds and subsequently spread into streams in the Mississippi River basin. We have been collecting grass carp in the Illinois River since 1990, and some of our associates have also collected grass carp in other portions of the upper Mississippi River system. The presence of juveniles (some less than 20 mm long) and adults (some diploid) in our collections leads us to believe that grass carp are reproducing in the Illinois River, and their larvae are finding suitable nursery areas in back- waters. Naturalized, reproducing grass carp populations probably...
The purpose of this guide is to assist authors in preparing reports for the Upper Mississippi River System Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP). Four series of reports are produced for the LTRMP: Technical, Special, Program, and Reprints. Technical Reports have an EMTC staff member as the first author. Reports authored by contract or field station staff are published as LTRMP Special Reports. Programmatic reports (Annual Work Plan, Operating Plan), Annual Status Reports, Geospatial Applications, User's Manuals, and Procedures Manuals are designated as Program Reports. To provide LTRMP participants with easy access to documentation of LTRMP-related studies, reports previously published in other professional...
Evaluating the accuracy of spatial data is important to determine appropriate use of these data. However, a good method has not been documented to measure locational accuracy. The Global Positioning System (GPS) reduces the difficulty of measuring the location of objects and enables non-surveyors to determine their location with relative ease. This study applied a straight-forward, repeatable, and statistically sound method of estimating the horizontal accuracy of GPS-derived location data. We concentrated on the spatial accuracy of points because points represent simple locations and not cartographic abstractions such as lines or polygons. When GPS coordinates are taken at surveyed locations, the quantity of interest...
We estimated the amount of land that would have to be acquired if an alternative water-level management plan was used for Pool 25 on the Upper Mississippi River. The work was performed as part of a study to evaluate water regulation alternatives that could minimize negative impacts and increase ecological benefits of dam operation. We used a one-dimensional model (HEC-2) to estimate the ordinary high-water profile and water surfaces at various discharges and management options, by river mile. Maps of these data were then created with a geographic information system, along with maps of land elevations, both above and below the surface of the river, lands controlled by the managing agency, and levees. The ownership...
This document presents a series of technical guidelines by which land cover information is being extracted from Landsat Thematic Mapper data as part of the Upper Midwest Gap Analysis Program (UMGAP). The UMGAP represents a regionally coordinated implementation of the national Gap Analysis Program in the states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin; the program is led by the U.S. Geological Survey, Environmental Management Technical Center. The protocol describes both the underlying philosophy and the operational details of the land cover classification activities being performed as part of UMGAP. Topics discussed include the hierarchical classification scheme, ground reference data acquisition, image stratification,...
Distribution and frequency of aquatic vegetation in the Upper Mississippi River System are monitored as part of the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program. This report summarizes results of sampling aquatic vegetation along fixed transects in Navigation Pools 4, 8, 13, and 26 in the Upper Mississippi River and La Grange Pool of the Illinois River in 1995. Pool 26 includes 12 miles of the Illinois River upstream of its confluence with the Mississippi River; all of the backwaters surveyed in this river reach are on the lower Illinois River. Plants were sampled using a modified rake technique along fixed transects. Data from additional qualitative surveys (or informals) was used to augment species records in each pool....
Fisheries monitoring as part of the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program has been conducted on Pool 13 of the Upper Mississippi River since 1989. In this span, over 825,000 fish representing 88 species were collected in Pool 13. Eight of these species are currently listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern by the State of Iowa. Fisheries monitoring in 2013 represented the twenty-first year of stratified random sampling. A total of 300 fish samples were completed in 2013, yielding 13,048 fish of 58 species. Emerald shiner ranked first in total abundance during 1989-2013, with mimic shiner ranked second and bluegill third. Freshwater drum, largemouth bass, white bass, black crappie, and common carp...
The Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center of the U.S. Geological Survey and its state partners monitor the aquatic vegetation as well as fish, water quality, and macroinvertebrates in the Upper Mississippi River System. The objective is to accumulate data on aquatic vegetation over a long term using a standardized protocol across the system. The data provide basic information on the vegetation growth within pools for use by resource managers and planners as well as the public for the protection and enhancement of the Upper Mississippi River System. This report summarizes the annual stratified random sampling monitoring results of aquatic vegetation in the Upper Mississippi River System.
This report summarizes monitoring activities of the Long Term Resources Monitoring Program (LTRMP) during 2002 and highlights selected results and accomplishments pertaining to hydrology, sedimentation, bathymetry, land cover/land use, water quality, fish, vegetation, and macroinvertebrates.�
Resource managers are currently using reductions in the Upper Mississippi River’s (UMR) water levels during summer to mimic historical water levels and rehabilitate habitats for vegetation and desirable fauna. However, drawdowns may have adverse effects on native mussel populations. Over the past few years, systematic, pool-wide surveys of mussels in Pools 5, 6, and 18 have been conducted. The objective of this study was to characterize the effects of water level drawdown on the mortality, movement, and behavior of a common Lampsilini species, Lampsilis cardium, and a common Amblemini species, Amblema plicata, in Pool 6 of the UMR during 2009 and 2010. About 460 mussels were tagged and followed about weekly during...
The Natural Resources Conservation Service ( NRCS ) - National Cartography and Geospatial Center ( NCGC ) previously archived and distributed the Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) Database. Only file downloads were available from this site. This limited the amount of soil survey information that could be accessed. The NRCS - NCGC also supplied SSURGO data to the United States Department of Agriculture - Service Center Agencies (Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Rural Development) Geospatial Data Gateway . While the Gateway provides file downloads, a customer can also order SSURGO data on CD-ROM or DVD. The NRCS Soil Survey Division recognized that increased functionality for...
Water quality degradation, particularly sedimentation from eroding farmland, has been identified as the number one problem affecting floodplain wetlands of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. Without accelerated implementation of soil and water conservation practices on farms, experts predict that thousands of acres of fish and waterfowl habitats will be lost within a few decades. In 1987, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated an interagency outreach effort to help farmers along the Middle Branch of the Whitewater River in Southeastern Minnesota develop comprehensive conservation plans and implement practices designed to save topsoil and protect water quality, while enhancing fish...
|
|