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The Best Ever Debris Flow Video?

Written by: Anthony Alvarado on August 17, 2012.

This week we ran into one of the craziest videos we’ve ever seen of debris flow during heavy rainfall in the town of Virgen, Austria about 2 weeks ago. It’s simply unreal. The video catches the speed and power of these mudflows remarkably well.  Note also the pulsing behavior that they show, which is characteristic …

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The Water Does Not Flow There

Written by: Dusty Robinson on August 18, 2011.

Part 1 of 4 Part 2 of 4 Part 3 of 4 Another assumption modelers have to make when setting up a 1-D model is the location of ineffective flow areas.  Again, this is not that difficult where the flow is primarily 1-D.  It can get complicated really quick the more hydraulically complex a reach …

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Rescue Your Floating Data

Written by: Anthony Alvarado on May 31, 2011.

We’ve previously discussed some of the basics of geodesy, ellipsoids and the geoid,  as well as datums and projections. Now, it’s time to pull it all together into what a coordinate system is. Knowing about coordinate systems matters because this is what you interact with inside of a GIS or even CADD currently. Your project …

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Hydro Survey: Multi-beam vs. Single Beam (Part 1)

Written by: Anthony Alvarado on August 2, 2011.

Dusty (my co-author on this blog) and I are fascinated with new technologies and finding faster and more efficient ways to do things. We love thinking about and discussing new directions and how they affect our A/E industry: How does social media affect civil engineering? When will we shift to the cloud? Can we have …

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Underwater Video of Sediment Transport in Alaska

Written by: Anthony Alvarado on October 19, 2012.

This week we have a video taken in Akutan, Alaska on a small shallow side channel showing some small scale bed load transport. I loved the use of the camera in a clear (no suspended load) water environment. From the author: This video was taken without the ROV while using only the GoPro HD Hero2. …

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The Best Ever Debris Flow Video?The Water Does Not Flow ThereRescue Your Floating DataHydro Survey: Multi-beam vs. Single Beam (Part 1)Underwater Video of Sediment Transport in Alaska

May 20

A Few Good Reads (5/20/13): Deadly Flooding in China and Somalia

Categories:

Floods, Restoration, River Engineering, Videos, Water Resources

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This week: Extreme flooding in the Guangdong Province of Southern China, flooding displaces thousands during the rainy season in Somalia, water infrastructure approved by the Senate and now moves to the House, the status of the state water bill in California, and the Netherlands’ use of sand engines as coastal flood protection.

  

Guangdong hit as deadly floods sweep southern China (BBC)

Flooding and landslides across nine southern Chinese provinces have killed more than 50 people and left 14 missing, officials say.

Guangdong was hardest hit, reporting 36 deaths after days of heavy rain, said the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

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May 13

A Few Good Reads (5/13/13): Drought in California, Catawba River Flooding

Categories:

Floods, Geomorphology, Technology, Water Resources

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This week: Bad news from the latest California snow survey reading means reservoirs will be drawn even further, the Catawba River overflows its banks in North Carolina, Lake Mead and Lake Powell heading towards their lowest levels ever, a cool Google timelapse of a meandering channel in Peru, and a very good review of the Garmin Oregon 650.

Diamond Valley Lake reservoir near Hemet, California holds 800,000 acre feet of water.

California Water Supply To Be Drawn From Storage To Meet Demand (KPBS)

The final California snow survey is bad news for the millions of residents and farmers who rely on the snowpack for their water. The reading was just 17 percent of normal following one of the driest winters on record, California Department of Water Resources(DWR) officials announced Thursday.

DWR projects it will only be able to deliver 35 percent of requested amounts from the State Water Project to the 29 agencies that purchase the water. The last time the allocation was that low was in 2008.

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May 10

Stunning Willamette Historical Stream Channels Poster

Categories:

Geomorphology, LiDAR

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When I started as an intern while still in college 13 years ago, my first task was digitizing a hundred print outs of historical meander bank lines that were drawn by J.C. Brice. I sat at the old school digitizing table for 12 hours a week and loved it actually. My effort as an intern was just a small part of the NCHRP 24-16 Meander Migration research project. The project pulled together a quite a bit of stream data from all over the U.S. with the primary goal of developing methods of predicting channel migration. It was a cool and fun project to be involved with especially as an intern! Today I ran into this incredible map poster of the Williamette Historical Stream Channels. It’s more than a map, it’s an amazing piece of art derived from LiDAR. The darker areas as you move away from the existing main channel (white) are actually older meander scars. By the brightness, you can even see how old the meander scars are (the brighter the scar, the newer the scar). You can see how the Williamette River and even some of its tributaries have moved laterally over time. It’s simply incredible.

Lidar Landscapes poster - Willamette River Historical Stream Channels

You can purchase the poster (17 x 38) from the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.

HT: Don Meltz

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May 06

A Few Good Reads (5/6/13): Rivers Rising Again in the Midwest, Fargo Spared a Major Flood for Now

Categories:

Floods, Levees, Safety, Stormwater

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This week: More rain and snow causing Midwest rivers to rise again though not as high as last month, Fargo appears to be spared record flooding but prediction of a major flood is now causing some frustration, most of the U.S. still in a drought, major flooding in Saskatchewan, Canada, more runoff fall out from the High Park Fire on the Cache La Poudre River, Colorado, and major floods predicted this year for Nigeria.

Rain, snow make rivers rise again (Canton Daily Ledger)

More heavy rain and late-season snow are creating new flood concerns for Midwest river towns still cleaning up from April flooding, though forecasters say the waters won’t rise as high as last month.

Precipitation pelted the heartland Thursday and Friday, and was expected to continue through the weekend.

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