Thomas Hoffman presented to the GeoCENS Senior Steering Committee in Banff, September 23, 2010.

1. Thomas Hoffmann
Banff, Sep. 18th 2010

2. Kananaskis River (Rocky Mnts.)

3. contents
1. Nature of fluvial (environmental) systems
2. Human impact on sediment in the Rhine
catchment
– Scientific problem
– Data needs GeoCENS
3. Salmon and geomorphology
– Scientific problem
– Data needs GeoCENS
4. Summary

4. contents
1. Nature of fluvial (environmental) systems
2. Human impact on sediment in the Rhine
catchment
– Scientific problem
– Data needs GeoCENS
3. Salmon and geomorphology
– Scientific problem
– Data needs GeoCENS
4. Summary

5. Rio Beni (Bolivia)

6. time & space
Environmental systems
are systems that are:
• variable in time and
space
• physical systems with
a history
• self organizing
• hierarchical
• response is dependent
on spatial scale

7. time & space
Environmental systems Timescales of adjustment of channel form
component with given length dimension
are systems that are:
• variable in time and 107
Watershed
106 physiography
space Valley
Time (years)
105
• physical systems with 104
morphology, river
profiles
a history 103
Channel reach
morphology, sediment
• self organizing 102
routing, channel width
and depth
• hierarchical 101 Habitat unit
morphology, grain
• response is dependent 100 size, bedforms
on spatial scale 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109
Space (m²)
modified after Montgomery (2004)

8. contents
1. Nature of fluvial (environmental) systems
2. Human impact on the Rhine catchment
– Scientific problem
– Data needs GeoCENS
3. Salmon and geomorphology
– Scientific problem
– Data needs GeoCENS
4. Summary

9. problem: soil degradation
• Globally, nearly 2 billion
hectares of land are affected by
human induced degradation of
soils (UN, 2000)
• Main driver of soil degradation:
soil erosion
• Old world: long human impact
(several 1000 years)
Grabenerosion auf einer gerade bestellten Rapsfläche long term perspective needed
M. Firelinghaus

10. source to sink
Floodplains as proxies of environmental change
Floodplains as
major sinks
Grabenerosion auf einer gerade bestellten Rapsfläche
M. Firelinghaus
Sources
Fluss Regen in der Oberpfalz hat beim Augusthochwasser 2002

11. sedimentation rate [mm/yr]
floodplain sedimentation
Increase of mean SR
since approx. 2000 BP
strong human impact
baseline SR: 0.5 mm/yr
Hoffmann et al. (2009, Catena)

12. floodplain
sedimentation
Uniform increase of mean
sedimentation rate
Increase of erosion
Increase of human
impact
Problem: link between
erosion and deposition
rates?
Hoffmann et al. (2009, Catena)

13. source to sink
Floodplains as proxies of environmental change
Floodplains as
major sinks
Grabenerosion auf einer gerade bestellten Rapsfläche
M. Firelinghaus
Sources
Fluss Regen in der Oberpfalz hat beim Augusthochwasser 2002

14. source to sink
Coon Creek (Trimble 1999, Science)
• Cause: Decreased soil
erosion due to
conservation measures
• Affects: constant
sediment delivery

15. source to sink
connectivity
Rhine catchment
(Lang et al. 2003, Hydrological Processes)
• Cause: Long human
impact on hillslope
erosion, with varying
degree of deforestation
• Affects: Buffered and
delayed response of
floodplains

16. what is needed?
• Time dependent spatial information of external drivers
– human impact
• Location of agricultural areas at different scales:
– large scale population distribution
– small scale terrain position: slope/valley
• Agricultural practice:
– non plough, plough
– size of agricultural fields
– climate/hydrology
• temperature
• precipitation
• discharge (magnitude & frequency)
• Time dependent spatial information fluvial response
– Sediment flux connectivity hillslope channel
– Channel type + morphology (meandering/braiding)

17. land use history in Germany
Neolithic population (~7 ka BP) Roman population (~2ka BP)
North
Sea
European Alps
Zimmermann at el (2009)

18. what is needed?
• Time dependent spatial information of external drivers
– human impact
• Location of agricultural areas at different scales:
– large scale population distribution
– small scale terrain position: slope/valley
• Agricultural practice:
– non plough, plough
– size of agricultural fields
– climate/hydrology
• temperature
• precipitation
• discharge (magnitude & frequency)
• Time dependent spatial information fluvial response
– Sediment flux connectivity hillslope channel
– Channel type + morphology (meandering/braiding)

19. human impact
on the Rhine
before 1850 AD
today

20. data types
Vector Raster
• Area: • Topography (DEMs)
– land use • Climate data
– geology – temperature
– sediment storage location – precipitation
• Line: time dependent
– sediment transport paths
(e.g. river network)
– breaks of sediment transport
(e.g. field edges)
• Point:
– Stratigraphical record
(slope, floodplain)
– Dating (e.g. 14C ages)

21. data types
Vector Raster
• Area:
Necessary meta information! • Topography (DEMs)
– land use
• Time scale • Climate data
– geology
• Spatial representativeness – temperature
– sediment storage location
Upscaling of point data – precipitation
• Line:Changing conditions! time dependent
– e.g. changing land use in catchment of a gauging station
sediment transport paths
• Connectivitynetwork) points/objects extrapolation
(e.g. river between
– breaks of sediment transport
• Quality evaluation!!!
(e.g. field edges)
• Point:
– Stratigraphical record
(slope, floodplain)
– Dating (e.g. 14C ages)

22. GeoCENS application
• Temporal GoogleEarth
• Visualization of time dependent spatial data
– Point data, line data and areal data
e.g. visualization of changing land use (areal
maps), 14C data of dated hillslope and fluvial
sediment
Time scales: ~10³ years
From sensors to palaeo archives

23. Salmon &
Geomorphology
© http://www.thinksalmon.com

24. Fish habitat and geomorphology
Strong decline of salmon populations
60000
Chinook Coho
Columbia River Commercial Landings
Sockeye Chum
50000
Steelhead Total
(in Thousands of Pounds)
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
years © http://www.thinksalmon.com
Source: WDFW (2002)

25. the big four (five) H´s
Harvest
Habitat (overfishing)
Salmon
Hatcheries Hydropower
(dams)
History
Assessment if restoration is
possible © http://www.thinksalmon.com

26. salmon live cycle and habitats
spawing: clean gravel of buried in
appropriate size to spawn streambed
+ pools to rest
shelter to grow,
forage and hide
from predators
deep sheltered
pools to rest
ocean: food
supply
off channel wetlands + floodplains:
summer rearing habitat and
protection from winter floods
Picture source: http://www.fishex.com/seafood/salmon/salmon life cycles.html

27. healthy salmon habitats

28. changes of salmon habitat
Montgomery (2004)
1870 1990
Snohomish River (Washington) Snohomish River (Washington)

29. changes of salmon habitat

30. changes of salmon habitat
Agricultural
Deforestation Urbanization
land use
loss large woody high input of fine
loss of wetlands &
debris input into sediments into
floodplains
channels channel
decreasing hetero
siltation of
geneity of channel bed
channel beds
morphology
Loss of salmon
habitat

31. restoration
Understanding of:
– Watershed processes (not only channel)
• Water, sediment and large wooded debris flux
– Hillslope channel connectivity
– Transport within channel
• Coupling of system components and processes
– Coupling between processes and channel morphology
– Coupling between biology and geomorphology/hydrology
Spatial context
– Disturbance history
• Land use history
• Channel morphology today and before human impact
Temporal context

32. which data needed?
• High resolution digital elevation
models (DEMs)
(esp. LIDAR = Light Detection + Ranging)
– Extraction of channel networks
– Mapping of geomorphological
landforms identification of
sediment transport processes
– Classification of channel
morphology
Hillshade of LIDAR DEM (1m resolution) – Reconstruction of former
Kananaskis country channel courses
• Aerial photographs
– Mapping of changing channel
pattern
– Reconstruction of land use
history
– Identification of sediment
sources and storages

33. which data needed?
step pool
casacade
plane
Hillshade of LIDAR DEM (1m resolution) bed
Kananaskis country Pool riffle
pool riffle
plane bed
step pool
cascade
Classification based on Montgomery & Buffington
(1997), data source 5m DEM (rescaled 1m LIDAR DEM)

34. which data needed?
• Sediment size = most hs
D50 * *
important channel ( s )g c ( s ) c
characteristic for
spawning
• Availability of suitable
sediment dependent on:
– Channel hydraulics
(shear stress)
– Sediment supply
(volume and grain size)
Estimation of
sediment size based
on DEM derived plane bed channels
channel slope and wood poor pool riffle channels
wood forced pool riffle channels
drainage area
increasing roughness / resistance

35. which data needed?
• High resolution digital elevation
models (DEMs)
(esp. LIDAR = Light Detection + Ranging)
– Extraction of channel networks
– Mapping of geomorphological
landforms identification of
sediment transport processes
– Classification of channel
morphology
– Reconstruction of former
channel courses
• Aerial photographs
– Mapping of changing channel
pattern
– Reconstruction of land use
history
– Identification of sediment
sources and storages.
Orthophoto, 1m resolution (2008)

36. which data needed?

37. summary
Restoration of salmon habitat only
possible if we have a good
understanding of:
• ecological and geomorphological
processes in salmon bearing rivers
• how these rivers evolved in time

38. GeoCENS application
• Temporal GoogleEarth
• Visualization of time dependent spatial data
– Point data, line data and areal data
e.g. visualization of changing land use (areal
maps), changing river habitat (linear features)
and salmon populations
Time scale: 10² years (since air photos are
available)

39. take home message
geospatial data is
not just xyzt
but
information in a
geographical context

40. take home message
• If we want a large geoscientific community to
use GeoCENS we need to integrate spatial and
temporal, e.g.:
– Geological, geomorphological maps
– Digital elevation models
– Time dependent land use maps
– ……and derivatives
• However: quality concerns must be met
• Visualization tool of spatial temporal data
important for every paleo environmental study

41. Thanks for
your attention !