Researching river ice is hard (but fun) work. When its -10° C and most people are drinking hot cocoa next to their fireplaces, we are out on the river harvesting ice blocks to study the ways ice contributes to river erosion. We also take lots of pictures so we can build 3D computer models that can detect the rates of subaerial erosion supplying sediment to the river ice. The fun part of this project is running erosion experiments in the lab.
One of my new projects is designing GPS-enabled sensors that can track river ice throughout watersheds and river systems. This sort of technology has the possibility of serving as early warning signals for river ice breakup, floe, ice jams, and ice jam floods.
One of my new projects is designing GPS-enabled sensors that can track river ice throughout watersheds and river systems. This sort of technology has the possibility of serving as early warning signals for river ice breakup, floe, ice jams, and ice jam floods.
We use physical experiments to study the movement of river ice through river channels. Specifically, we investigate where river ice impacts river banks and causes erosion. In the lab, because ice would melt, paraffin wax is used to simulate ice. We video tape experiments, map the locations of ice-bank interactions, create heat maps, and build erosional models to study the contributions of mobile river ice to bank erosion.