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Title:	Mississippi River 2016 winter stage trends
Authors:	May, David P. Biedenharn, David S. Johnson, Brian S. Howe, Edmund M.
Keywords:	Mississippi River Floods River channels Stream measurements Water temperature
Publisher:	United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Mississippi Valley Division. United States. Mississippi River Commission. Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (U.S.) Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.:	MRG&P;Report No. 15
Abstract:	During the winter flood of 2016, concerns were raised about the projected stages being higher than observed and whether these differences reflected some significant morphologic change in the Mississippi River that required attention. To address this issue, a review of research related to cold water versus warm water floods was conducted, followed by an analysis of specific gage records and stage-discharge trends, which had been updated to include data from 2014 through 2016. The gage analysis revealed no stage abnormalities that were considered outside the normal broad-scale trends or typical intra-annual stage variability. Rather, the observed stages appeared to be consistent with typical cold water stage tendencies. Observed stage-temperature data indicate that at the mid-bank and higher flows, there is a significant association between stage and water temperature. The fact that this apparent paradox does exist suggests that the underlying dominant processes for the differences between cold water and warm water flood stages are not yet fully understood: processes such as floodplain vegetation changes, antecedent flood conditions, or other factors may also be significant contributors.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/11681/25604 http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/25604
Appears in Collections:	MRG&P Report