Data management and collection will compile and analyze existing data and conduct field observational studies of water and sediment dynamics to supplement existing data sets as needed. This effort will enable researchers to characterize existing conditions and processes. Observational data will also support the development of numerical models that are capable of simulating the complex behavior of water, sediment, nutrients, and salinity. These models will be used to project future trends with and without proposed restoration actions.
Data Collection will use a combination of boat-based and stationary data collection to gather data on:
- Real-time and synoptic cross-sectional water velocities and discharge
- Suspended load concentration and grain size distribution
- Bed load and flux of sediment occurring through bed form migration
- Sand sheet thickness
- Water column turbidity
- Data for characterizing sediment erodibility, entrainment, flocculation and settling, and deposition
- Data to characterize bed morphology changes
- Salinity and temperature
- Other water quality parameters
All collected data sets will be archived, managed for quality control and made available for use by the modeling teams, the state and federal partners, and the general public.