Paul E. Grams

Riparian vegetation, Colorado River, and climate: Five decades of spatiotemporal dynamics in the Grand Canyon with river regulation

Documentation of the interacting effects of river regulation and climate on riparian vegetation has typically been limited to small segments of rivers or focused on individual plant species. We examine spatiotemporal variability in riparian vegetation for the Colorado River in Grand Canyon relative to river regulation and climate, over the five decades since completion of the upstream Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. Long-term changes along this highly modified, large segment of the river provide insights for management of similar riparian ecosystems around the world. We analyze vegetation extent based on maps and imagery from eight dates between 1965 and 2009, coupled with the instantaneous hydrograph for the entire period. Analysis confirms a net increase in vegetated area since completion of the dam. Magnitude and timing of such vegetation changes are river stage-dependent. Vegetation expansion is coincident with inundation frequency changes and is unlikely to occur for time periods when inundation frequency exceeds approximately 5%. Vegetation expansion at lower zones of the riparian area is greater during the periods with lower peak and higher base flows, while vegetation at higher zones couples with precipitation patterns and decreases during drought. Short pulses of high flow, such as the controlled floods of the Colorado River in 1996, 2004, and 2008, do not keep vegetation from expanding onto bare sand habitat. Management intended to promote resilience of riparian vegetation must contend with communities that are sensitive to the interacting effects of altered flood regimes and water availability from river and precipitation.

Characterizing riverbed sediment using high‐frequency acoustics: 1. Spectral properties of scattering

Bed sediment classification using high-frequency hydroacoustic instruments is challenging when sediments are spatially heterogeneous, which is often the case in rivers. The use of acoustic backscatter to classify sediments is an attractive alternative to analysis of topography because it is potentially sensitive to grain scale roughness. Here a new method is presented which uses high-frequency acoustic backscatter from multibeam sonar to classify heterogeneous riverbed sediments by type (sand, gravel, and rock) continuously in space and at small spatial resolution. In this, the first of a pair of papers that examine the scattering signatures from a heterogeneous riverbed, methods are presented to construct spatially explicit maps of spectral properties from georeferenced point clouds of geometrically and radiometrically corrected echoes. Backscatter power spectra are computed to produce scale and amplitude metrics that collectively characterize the length scales of stochastic measures of riverbed scattering, termed “stochastic geometries.” Backscatter aggregated over small spatial scales have spectra that obey a power law. This apparently self-affine behavior could instead arise from morphological scale and grain scale roughnesses over multiple overlapping scales or riverbed scattering being transitional between Rayleigh and geometric regimes. Relationships exist between stochastic geometries of backscatter and areas of rough and smooth sediments. However, no one parameter can uniquely characterize a particular substrate nor definitively separate the relative contributions of roughness and acoustic impedance (hardness). Combinations of spectral quantities do, however, have the potential to delineate riverbed sediment patchiness, in a data-driven approach comparing backscatter with bed sediment observations (which is the subject of part two of this manuscript).

Characterizing riverbed sediment using high-frequency acoustics: 2. Scattering signatures of Colorado River bed sediment in Marble and Grand Canyons

In this, the second of a pair of papers on the statistical signatures of riverbed sediment in high-frequency acoustic backscatter, spatially explicit maps of the stochastic geometries (length and amplitude scales) of backscatter are related to patches of riverbed surfaces composed of known sediment types, as determined by georeferenced underwater video observations. Statistics of backscatter magnitudes alone are found to be poor discriminators between sediment types. However, the variance of the power spectrum and the intercept and slope from a power law spectral form (termed the spectral strength and exponent, respectively) successfully discriminate between sediment types. A decision tree approach was able to classify spatially heterogeneous patches of homogeneous sands, gravels (and sand-gravel mixtures), and cobbles/boulders with 95, 88, and 91% accuracy, respectively. Application to sites outside the calibration and surveys made at calibration sites at different times were plausible based on observations from underwater video. Analysis of decision trees built with different training data sets suggested that the spectral exponent was consistently the most important variable in the classification. In the absence of theory concerning how spatially variable sediment surfaces scatter high-frequency sound, the primary advantage of this data-driven approach to classify bed sediment over alternatives is that spectral methods have well-understood properties and make no assumptions about the distributional form of the fluctuating component of backscatter over small spatial scales.

Automated Riverbed Sediment Classification Using Low-Cost Sidescan Sonar

AbstractThe use of low-cost, low-profile, and highly portable sidescan sonar is on the ascendancy for imaging shallow riverine benthic sediments. A new automated, spatially explicit, and physically-based method for calculating lengthscales of bed texture elements in sidescan echograms (a 2D plot of acoustic intensity as a function of slant range and distance) is suggested. It uses spectral analysis based on the wavelet transform of short sequences of echograms. The recursive application of the transform over small overlapping windows of the echogram provides a robust measure of lengthscales of alternating patterns of strong and weak echoes. This textural lengthscale is not a direct measure of grain size. Rather, it is a statistical representation that integrates over many attributes of bed texture, of which grain size is the most important. The technique is a physically-based means to identify regions of texture within a sidescan echogram, and could provide a basis for objective, automated riverbed sedime...

Transport of fine sediment over a coarse, immobile riverbed

Sediment transport in cobble-boulder rivers consists mostly of fine sediment moving over a coarse, immobile bed. Transport rate depends on several interrelated factors: boundary shear stress, the grain size and volume of fine sediment, and the configuration of fine sediment into interstitial deposits and bed forms. Existing models do not incorporate all of these factors. Approaches that partition stress face a daunting challenge because most of the boundary shear is exerted on immobile grains. We present an alternative approach that divides the bed into sand patches and interstitial deposits and is well constrained by two clear end-member cases: full sand cover and absence of sand. Entrainment from sand patches is a function of their aerial coverage. Entrainment from interstices among immobile grains is a function of sand elevation relative to the size of the immobile grains. The bed-sand coverage function is used to predict the ratio of the rate of entrainment from a partially covered bed to the rate of entrainment from a completely sand-covered bed, which is determined using a standard sand transport model. We implement the bed-sand coverage function in a morphodynamic routing model and test it against observations of sand bed elevation and suspended sand concentration for conditions of nonuniform fine sediment transport in a large flume with steady uniform flow over immobile hemispheres. The results suggest that this approach may provide a simple and robust method for predicting the transport and migration of fine sediment through rivers with coarse, immobile beds.

A Detached Eddy Simulation Model for the Study of Lateral Separation Zones along a Large Canyon‐Bound River

Lateral flow separation occurs in rivers where banks exhibit strong curvature. In canyon bound rivers, lateral recirculation zones are the principal storage of fine sediment deposits. A parallelized, three-dimensional, turbulence-resolving model was developed to study the flow structures along lateral separation zones located in two pools along the Colorado River in Marble Canyon. The model employs the detached eddy simulation (DES) technique, which resolves turbulence structures larger than the grid spacing in the interior of the flow. The DES-3D model is validated using ADCP flow measurements taken during the 2008 controlled flood release from Glen Canyon Dam. A point-to-point validation using a number of skill metrics, often employed in hydrological research, is proposed here for fluvial modeling. The validation results show predictive capabilities of the DES model. The model reproduces the pattern and magnitude of the velocity in the lateral recirculation zone, including the size and position of the primary and secondary eddy cells, and return current. The lateral recirculation zone is open, having continuous import of fluid upstream of the point of reattachment and export by the recirculation return current downstream of the point of separation. Differences in magnitude and direction of near-bed and near-surface velocity vectors are found, resulting in an inward vertical spiral. Interaction between the recirculation return current and the main flow is dynamic, with large temporal changes in flow direction and magnitude. Turbulence structures with a predominately vertical axis of vorticity are observed in the shear layer becoming three-dimensional without preferred orientation downstream.

Compositional Signatures in Acoustic Backscatter Over Vegetated and Unvegetated Mixed Sand‐Gravel Riverbeds

Multibeam acoustic backscatter has considerable utility for remote characterization of spatially heterogeneous bed-sediment composition over vegetated and unvegetated riverbeds of mixed sand and gravel. However, the use of high-frequency, decimeter-resolution acoustic backscatter for sediment classification in shallow water is hampered by significant topographic contamination of the signal. In mixed sand-gravel riverbeds, changes in the abiotic composition of sediment (such as homogeneous sand to homogeneous gravel) tend to occur over larger spatial scales than is characteristic of small-scale bedform topography (ripples, dunes, bars) or biota (such as vascular plants and periphyton). A two-stage method is proposed to filter out the morphological contributions to acoustic backscatter. First, the residual supra-grain-scale topographic effects in acoustic backscatter with small instantaneous insonified areas, caused by ambiguity in the local (beam-to-beam) bed-sonar geometry, are removed. Then, coherent scales between high-resolution topography and backscatter are identified using co-spectra, which are used to design a frequency domain filter that decomposes backscatter into the (unwanted) high-pass component associated with bedform topography (ripples, dunes, sand waves) and vegetation, and the (desired) low-frequency component associated with the composition of sediment patches superimposed on the topography. This process strengthens relationships between backscatter and sediment composition. A probabilistic framework is presented for classifying vegetated and unvegetated substrates based on acoustic backscatter at decimeter-resolution. This capability is demonstrated using data collected from diverse settings within a 386 km reach of a canyon river whose bed varies among sand, gravel, cobbles, boulders, and submerged vegetation.

Quantifying and forecasting changes in the areal extent of river valley sediment in response to altered hydrology and land cover

In river valleys, sediment moves between active river channels, near-channel deposits including bars and floodplains, and upland environments such as terraces and aeolian dunefields. Sediment availability is a prerequisite for the sustained transfer of material between these areas, and for the eco-geomorphic functioning of river networks in general. However, the difficulty of monitoring sediment availability and movement at the reach or corridor scale has hindered our ability to quantify and forecast the response of sediment transfer to hydrologic or land cover alterations. Here we leverage spatiotemporally extensive datasets quantifying sediment areal coverage along a 28 km reach of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, southwestern USA. In concert with information on hydrologic alteration and vegetation encroachment resulting from the operation of Glen Canyon Dam (constructed in 1963) upstream of our study reach, we model the relative and combined influence of changes in (a) flow and (b) riparian vegetation extent on the areal extent of sediment available for transport in the river valley over the period from 1921 to 2016. In addition, we use projections of future streamflow and vegetation encroachment to forecast sediment availability over the 20 year period from 2016 to 2036. We find that hydrologic alteration has reduced the areal extent of bare sediment by 9% from the pre- to post-dam periods, whereas vegetation encroachment further reduced bare sediment extent by 45%. Over the next 20 years, the extent of bare sediment is forecast to be reduced by an additional 12%. Our results demonstrate the impact of river regulation, specifically the loss of annual low flows and associated vegetation encroachment, on reducing the sediment available for transfer within river valleys. This work provides an extendable framework for using high-resolution data on streamflow and land cover to assess and forecast the impact of watershed perturbation (e.g. river regulation, land cover shifts, climate change) on sediment connectivity at the corridor scale.

How many measurements are required to construct an accurate sand budget in a large river? Insights from analyses of signal and noise: Signal and noise in the sand budget for a large river

Morphological change in river channels is frequently evaluated in the context of mass balance sediment budgets. In a closed sediment budget, measurements of sediment influx and efflux are coupled with measured changes in channel topography to provide both spatial and temporal resolution, and independent estimates of the mass balance. For sediment budgets constructed over long river segments (~10 channel widths or greater) and long periods (~2 years or longer), spatial and temporal accumulation of measurement uncertainty, compounded by inadequate sampling frequency or spatial coverage, may produce indeterminate results. The degree of indeterminacy may be evaluated in the context of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which is a function of the magnitude of the mass balance and the magnitudes of potential systematic uncertainties associated with measurements and incomplete sampling. We report on a closed sand budget consisting of measurements of flux and two morphological surveys for a 50-km segment of a large river over a 3-year period. Accurate reporting of the magnitude and sign of the change in sand storage was only possible by using state-of-the-art techniques with high temporal frequency and large spatial extent. Together, a sand flux and morphological mass balance revealed that sand evacuation was temporally concentrated (~100% of mass change occurred during 19% of the study period) and highly localized (70% of mass change occurred in 12% of the study segment). A SNR analysis revealed that uncertainty resulting from undersampling may approach or exceed that caused by measurement uncertainty and that daily sampling of suspended-sand concentration or repeat mapping of at least 50% of the river segment was required to determine the sand budget with SNR > 1. The approach used here to analyze sand budget uncertainty is especially applicable to other river systems with large temporal variability in sediment transport and large spatial variability in erosion and deposition.

Channel Mapping of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona - May 2009, river miles 29 to 62 Data

Bathymetric, topographic, and grain-size data were collected in May 2009 along a 33-mi reach of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. The study reach is located from river miles 29 to 62 at the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers. Channel bathymetry was mapped using multibeam and singlebeam echosounders, subaerial topography was mapped using ground-based total-stations, and bed-sediment grain-size data were collected using an underwater digital microscope system. These data were combined to produce digital elevation models, spatially variable estimates of digital elevation model uncertainty, georeferenced grain-size data, and bed-sediment distribution maps. These data are associated with the USGS Open File Report: Kaplinski, M., Hazel, J.E., Jr., Grams, P.E., Kohl, Keith, Buscombe, D.D., and Tusso, R.B., 2017, Channel mapping river miles 29 62 of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, May 2009: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017 1030, 35 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171030.