Project Funding: 2006 - 2011

Funded by Other US Funding: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Abstract:
The Riverscape Analysis Project (RAP) was originally developed to map freshwater physical habitat metrics of all major North Pacific Rim (NPR) river basins as they pertain to salmon and their potential vulnerability to climate change. The database includes Landsat and DEM assisted classification of open water and river channels, vegetation, floodplains, basin and catchment delineations for >1000 basins extending across the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Western Canada, and Kamchatka Russia. The database also includes upscaled river networks from a Dominant River Tracing algorithm (DRT) and Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrological model based simulations of daily river discharge and stream temperatures along river flow paths of each basin for historical (1980's) and projected (AR4) future (to 2100) conditions. The hydrological simulations were conducted at a coarser (1/8 degree) resolution than the 30m scale physical basin metrics database. The RAP database resides in Arc-SDE with a web-based interface that includes a set of tools and tutorials that allow users to evaluate and compare individual basins and sub-catchments in terms of their physical structure and river/lake systems. The database is spatially contiguous and was developed using seamless datasets and consistent methods, allowing relatively unbiased comparisons of physical structure and potential climate change impacts among different basins across the NPR. The physical metrics include basin geometry, stream order, length and structure, lake sizes and distributions, major hydrologic flow paths, vegetation extent and relative human impact. The RAP database and tools are relevant to NACP and ABoVE planning in several ways. First, the RAP river discharge and stream temperature simulation results and associated basin physical metrics provide the major inputs needed for estimating riverine transport of terrestrial carbon (e.g. SOC) to the coastal oceans, both for current and projected future conditions. For example, boreal-Arctic rivers of Alaska and the Yukon are likely to see increasing SOC leaching and lateral riverine transport of carbon to coastal oceans in degrading permafrost areas, which would impact terrestrial carbon budgets and riverine and coastal estuarine/ocean productivity dynamics. Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) planners and investigators might use RAP to assist in co-locating measurement sites in potentially vulnerable areas with degrading permafrost and large projected changes in stream flow and temperature dynamics. RAP also provides a means for comparing river and basin structure, and their potential for riverine carbon transport and storage; e.g. river catchments with large or complex floodplains, riparian vegetation and low drainage gradients may provide a larger capacity for sedimentation and carbon storage, reducing lateral C transport and loss rates to coastal oceans relative to basins with steeper gradients and less complex flow networks. These kinds of comparisons are enabled by the RAP database and web interface, which was specifically designed as a decision support system.

Publications:

Beechie, T., Imaki, H., Greene, J., Wade, A., Wu, H., Pess, G., Roni, P., Kimball, J., Stanford, J., Kiffney, P., Mantua, N. 2012. RESTORING SALMON HABITAT FOR A CHANGING CLIMATE. River Research and Applications. 29(8), 939-960. DOI: 10.1002/rra.2590

Luck, M., Maumenee, N., Whited, D., Lucotch, J., Chilcote, S., Lorang, M., Goodman, D., McDonald, K., Kimball, J., Stanford, J. 2010. Remote sensing analysis of physical complexity of North Pacific Rim rivers to assist wild salmon conservation. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 35(11), 1330-1343. DOI: 10.1002/esp.2044

Whited, D. C., Kimball, J. S., Lucotch, J. A., Maumenee, N. K., Wu, H., Chilcote, S. D., Stanford, J. A. 2012. A Riverscape Analysis Tool Developed to Assist Wild Salmon Conservation Across the North Pacific Rim. Fisheries. 37(7), 305-314. DOI: 10.1080/03632415.2012.696009

Whited, D. C., Kimball, J. S., Lorang, M. S., Stanford, J. A. 2011. ESTIMATION OF JUVENILE SALMON HABITAT IN PACIFIC RIM RIVERS USING MULTISCALAR REMOTE SENSING AND GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS. River Research and Applications. 29(2), 135-148. DOI: 10.1002/rra.1585

Wu, H., Kimball, J. S., Li, H., Huang, M., Leung, L. R., Adler, R. F. 2012. A new global river network database for macroscale hydrologic modeling. Water Resources Research. 48(9). DOI: 10.1029/2012WR012313

Wu, H., Kimball, J. S., Mantua, N., Stanford, J. 2011. Automated upscaling of river networks for macroscale hydrological modeling. Water Resources Research. 47(3). DOI: 10.1029/2009WR008871

Wu, H., Kimball, J. S., Mantua, N., Stanford, J. 2011. Automated upscaling of river networks for macroscale hydrological modeling. Water Resources Research. 47(3). DOI: 10.1029/2009WR008871

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• North American Carbon Program (NACP) Project Profile