Remote Monitoring of River Ice Jam Dynamics

• Main Authors: C. Robichaud, F. Hicks
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Athabasca River; Fort McMurray
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.599.9852; http://cripe.civil.ualberta.ca/downloads/11th_workshop/robichaud-hicks-2001.pdf

The purpose of this investigation was to develop an economically viable means of obtaining automated river water level measurements in remote areas under ice conditions, with the objective of obtaining field data on ice jam formation and release. In addition to having the capability of obtaining continuous data during ice jam events, it was desirable to have a system which could alert a field team of ice events occurring at the remote site, in order to facilitate complementary observations during ice jamming events. In this paper, details of the measures taken to develop and implement such a system on the Athabasca River near Fort McMurray, Alberta, are described and an assessment of the initial performance under freeze-up and winter conditions is provided. Each remote water level monitoring station employs a conventional (vented) pressure transducer linked to a communications system on the river bank, primarily for notification purposes. A back up system consisting of a submersible water level/data logger (with no communication system) ensures continuous data collection, even if the vented system is torn out by ice action. The system was installed in the fall of 2000 and successfully survived the rigors of a relatively dynamic freeze-up. The major logistical problem seems to be freezing of the sensors into the ice cover due to extremely shallow flow conditions in winter. Details of the data collected to date are presented and recommendations for refining the design are presented. It is hoped that the information presented here will prove useful to others wanting to obtain similar data. 1.