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Effect of Daily Fluctuations from Flaming Gorge Dam on Ice Processes in the Green River

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Effect of Daily Fluctuations from Flaming Gorge Dam on Ice Processes in the Green River Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Elusive Documents Depository) 2000 Effect of Daily Fluctuations from Flaming Gorge Dam on Ice Processes in the Green River John W. Hayse Steven F. Daly Andrew Tuthill Richard A. Valdez Bryan Cowdell Gary Burton Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/elusive_docs Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Hayse, John W.; Daly, Steven F.; Tuthill, Andrew; Valdez, Richard A.; Cowdell, Bryan; and Burton, Gary, "Effect of Daily Fluctuations from Flaming Gorge Dam on Ice Processes in the Green River" (2000). Elusive Documents. Paper 67. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/elusive_docs/67 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository) at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Elusive Documents by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AAIL IEI/itf ... IOlo£( I JUL 0 7 ZODO 0811 Effect of Daily Fluctuations from Flaming Gorge Dam on Ice Processes in the Green River John W. Hayse Steven F. Daly Andrew Tuthill Richard A. Valdez Bryan Cowdell Gary Burton Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program Project #83 Final Report May 2000 Argonne National Laboratory, with facilities in the states of Illinois and Idaho, is owned by the United States government, and operated by The University of Chicago lUlder the provisions of a contract with the Department of Energy. _------ DISCLAIMER --------. This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor The University of Chicago, nor any of their employees or officers, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof The views and opinions of document authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof, Argonne National Laboratory, or The University of Chicago. Available electronically at http://www.doe.govlhridge Available for a processing fee to U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors, in paper, from: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information P.O. Box 62 Oak Ridge, 1N 37831-0062 phone: (865) 576-8401 fax: (865) 576-5728 e-mail: [email protected] Argonne National Laboratory Report No. ANL/EA/RP-I02041 EFFECT OF DAILY FLUCTUATIONS FROM FLAMING GORGE DAM ON ICE PROCESSES IN THE GREEN RIVER Upper Colorado River Recovery Program Project No. 83 Final Report l John W. Hayse , Steven F. Daly2, Andrew TuthilF, 3 3 Richard A. Valdez ,4, Bryan Cowde11 , and Gary BurtonS 1Argonne National Laboratory Environmental Assessment Division 9700 South Cass Avenue Argonne, Illinois 60439 2U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory 72 Lyme Road Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 3BIO/WEST, Inc. 1063 West 1400 North Logan, Utah 84321 eCurrent address: SWCA, Inc.; 56 West 400 South; Suite 201; Salt Lake City, Utah 84101) 5Western Area Power Administration P.O. Box 3402 Golden, Colorado 80401 May 2000 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was funded, in part~ by the Recovery Implementation Program for the Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin (Recovery Program). The Recovery Program is a joint effort ofthe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Western Area Power Administration, the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, Upper Basin water users, environmental organizations, and the Colorado River Energy Distributors Association. This project was completed through a cooperative effort among researchers from Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, BIO/WEST, and Western Area Power Administration. We thank Steve Petersburg of the National Park Service, Dinosaur National Monument for granting a scientific research permit and Steven Brock and Daniel Schaad of the Ouray National Wildlife Refuge for their cooperation with providing the appropriate permits and access to roads and other areas at the refuge. In addition, the authors thank Tom Ryan of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for providing timely output from hydrological modeling that allowed us to coordinate field work at downstream locations with water releases from Flaming Gorge Dam. -11- DISCLAIMER Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Imagesare produced from the best available original document. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................ ii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................... vi LIST OF KEY WORDS ................................................. ix EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ... .. x 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................... 1 1.1 RIVER ICE FORMATION ...................................... 2 2 METHODS .......................................................... 6 2.1 THE STUDY REACH .......................................... 6 2.2 HISTORICAL CONDITIONS AND OBSERVATIONS ............... 6 2.2.1 Flow Rates ............................................ 6 2.2.2 Water and Air Temperature Measurements ................... 7 2.2.3 Historical Ice Observations ............................... 7 2.3 19961997 FIELD MEASUREMENTS .............................. 8 2.4 ICE PROCESS MODELING ..................................... 9 2.4.1 Unsteady Flow Sub-Model .................... " ........ 10 2.4.1.1 Channel Geometry Data .......................... 11 2.4.1.2 Calibration ofUNET Unsteady Flow Model ......... 11 2.4.2 Transport Sub-Model ................................... 13 2.4.3 Ice Cover Progression Sub-Model ......................... 13 3 RESULTS .......................................................... 14 3.1 HISTORICAL CONDITIONS AND OBSERVATIONS .............. 14 3.1.1 Winter Flows ......................................... 14 3.1.2 Water and Air Temperatures ............................. 15 3.1.3 Ice Formation on the Green River ......................... 16 3.1.3.1 USGS Observations ............................ 16 3.1.3.2 BIO/WEST Reports ............................ 16 -111- 3.1.3.3 Winter of 1996-97 Field Survey .................. 17 3.2 1996-1997 FIELD MEASUREMENTS ............................ 19 3.3 MODELING RESULTS ........................................ 20 3.4 RIVER HYDRAULIC CONDITIONS: COMPARISON OF STEADY AND UNSTEADY FLOWS .......................... 20 4 DISCUSSION ....................................................... 22 5 RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................... 27 6 REFERENCES ...................................................... 28 TABLES .............................................................. 30 FIGURES ............................................................. 45 APPENDIX ........................................................... 91 -lV- LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Calibration data used in the unsteady flow UNET model ................ 31 Table 2. Maximum accumulated freezing degrees days (AFDD) for water years 1950 to 1997 .................................................... 34 Table 3. Field survey observations of ice conditions on 18-19 December 1996 ...... 36 Table 4. Ice thickness measurements before and after initiation of peaking flows .... 37 Table 5. Results of two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to evaluate the effects of cross section location (river mile, RM) and fluctuation regime (steady flow vs. fluctuating flow) on ice cover thickness ................... 38 Table 6. Stage, velocity, depth and Froude number for a steady flow of 2400 cfs ..... 39 Table 7. Stage, velocity, depth, and Froude number at first peak following the steady flow period ................................................ 40 Table 8. Stage, velocity, depth, and Froude number at first trough following initial peak ...................................................... 41 Table 9. Stage, velocity, depth and Froude number at lowest trough ............... 42 Table 10. Stage, velocity, depth and Froude number at highest peak ............... 43 Table 11. Maximum AFDD, mean daily winter flow, maximum reported upstream ice cover extent, and the daily release schedule during ice observations in the study area ....................................... 44 -v- LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Map of the Green River basin ..................................... 46 Figure 2. Map of the study area in the Green River ............................ 47 Figure 3. Locations of cross sections for stage change and ice thickness measurements .................................................... 48 Figure 4. Stage-discharge curve for the Jensen, Utah gage ....................... 49 Figure 5. Stage-discharge curve for the Ouray, Utah bridge ...................... 50 Figure 6. Graphical representation of cross section locations and types ............ 51 Figure 7. Measured
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