Camera facing east
Camera facing west
In cooperation with Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC and USGS, Biological Resources Division) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), the USGS Utah District (Water Resources Division) has installed and is currently operating and maintaining a streamflow-gaging station on the Paria River at Highway US89. Highly accurate and realtime information on river stage and discharge for this station is critical during times of high flow, which generally occur during summer and fall. GCMRC and USBR are tasked with the job of monitoring and quantifying sediment input to the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam, which now only comes from Colorado River tributaries below the dam. One of these tributaries, the Paria River, drains to the Colorado River downstream of Lee’s Ferry, located upstream from Marble Canyon. This tributary, along with the Little Colorado River, now provide the majority of sediment to the Colorado River system in the Grand Canyon. In an effort to better manage sediment fluxes to the system for the purposes of beach and habitat enhancement, GCMRC and USBR now have the information, tools, and permission to perhaps alter flows from Glen Canyon Dam when large amounts of sediment are about to enter the downstream system. By decreasing flowrates when substantial amounts of sediment are in transport in the Paria River drainage, sediment inputs from this tributary can be stored in the Colorado River below Lee’s Ferry until sufficient flows can be produced. The high flows will put the stored sediment into suspension in the river and transport it downstream to locations where it will build beaches and revitalize habitats upon deposition in eddy areas along the margins of the Colorado River. In order to make these critical management decisions, which are required in a near realtime manner when the Paria River begins to flood, several water-level recorders, a suspended-sediment sampling system, and a broadband Internet camera have been installed at the new gage location. By using images from the camera, USGS, GCMRC, and USBR management will be able to view floods as they occur and verify and validate river-stage data that are being transmitted by other satellite technologies.
Because no power is available at this site and the site is out of cellular phone coverage, a new fully enclosed system needed to be designed -- a system never before used for such a purpose – realtime viewing of hydrologic conditions at a remote site. The primary components of the system consist of a full array of solar panels, large high-capacity batteries, battery regulators, a computer processor, a web camera, and of course the broadband satellite dish.
Realtime
streamflow for station.
See the last four current photos.
 |
 |
 |
|
Jim Eads checking equipment
on THU JAN 30 09:29:40 2003
|
Brad Slaugh and Jim Eads
servicing station on THU JAN 30 09:59:40 2003
|
Technician Brad Slaugh
making streamflow measurement on THU JAN 30 10:44:40 2003
|
URL:http://ut.water.usgs.gov
/Webcam/index.html