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M. C. Mastin

Publications and source records attributed to M. C. Mastin.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2011

Channel evolution on the dammed Elwha River, Washington, USA

Like many rivers in the western U.S., the Elwha River, Washington, has changed substantially over the past century in response to natural and human forcing. The lower river is affected by two upstream dams that are slated for removal as part of a major river restoration effort. In preparation for studying the effects of dam removal, we present a comprehensive field and aerial photographic analysis of dam influence on an anabranching, gravel-bed river. Over the past century with the dams in place, loss of the upstream sediment supply has caused spatial variations in the sedimentary and geomorphic character of the lower Elwha River channel. Bed sediment is armored and better sorted than on the naturally evolving bed upstream of the dams. On time scales of flood seasons, the channel immediately below the lower dam is fairly stable, but progresses toward greater mobility downstream such that the lowermost portion of the river responded to a recent 40-year flood with bank erosion and bed-elevation changes on a scale approaching that of the natural channel above the dams. In general, channel mobility in the lowest 4 km of the Elwha River has not decreased substantially with time. Enough fine sediment remains in the floodplain that – given sufficient flood forcing – the channel position, sinuosity, and braiding index change substantially. The processes by which this river accesses new fine sediment below the dams (rapid migration into noncohesive banks and avulsion of new channels) allow it to compensate for loss of upstream sediment supply more readily than would a dammed river with cohesive banks or a more limited supply of alluvium. The planned dam removal will provide a valuable opportunity to evaluate channel response to the future restoration of natural upstream sediment supply.

Washington↗
USGS2010

Magnitude and extent of flooding at selected river reaches in western Washington, January 2009

A narrow plume of warm, moist tropical air produced prolonged precipitation and melted snow in low-to-mid elevations throughout western Washington in January 2009. As a result, peak-of-record discharges occurred at many long-term streamflow-gaging stations in the region. A disaster was declared by the President for eight counties in Washington State and by May 2009, aid payments by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had exceeded $17 million. In an effort to document the flood and to obtain flood information that could be compared with simulated flood extents that are commonly prepared in conjunction with flood insurance studies by FEMA, eight stream reaches totaling 32.6 miles were selected by FEMA for inundation mapping. The U.S. Geological Survey?s Washington Water Science Center used a survey-grade global positioning system (GPS) the following summer to survey high-water marks (HWMs) left by the January 2009 flood at these reaches. A Google Maps (copyright) application was developed to display all HWM data on an interactive mapping tool on the project?s web site soon after the data were collected. Water-surface profiles and maps that display the area and depth of inundation were produced through a geographic information system (GIS) analysis that combined surveyed HWM elevations with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-derived digital elevation models of the study reaches and surrounding terrain. In several of the reaches, floods were well confined in their flood plains and were relatively straightforward to map. More common, however, were reaches with more complicated hydraulic geometries where widespread flooding resulted in flows that separated from the main channel. These proved to be more difficult to map, required subjective hydrologic judgment, and relied on supplementary information, such as aerial photographs and descriptions of the flooding from local landowners and government officials to obtain the best estimates of the extent of flooding.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2009

Summary of Seepage Investigations in the Yakima River Basin, Washington

Discharge data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington State Department of Ecology, and Yakama Nation for seepage investigations in the Yakima River basin are made available as downloadable Microsoft Excel files. These data were collected for more than a century at various times for several different studies and are now available in one location to facilitate future analysis by interested parties.

Data Series↗
USGS2009

Bathymetry and Near-River Topography of the Naches and Yakima Rivers at Union Gap and Selah Gap, Yakima County, Washington, August 2008

Yakima County is collaborating with the Bureau of Reclamation on a study of the hydraulics and sediment-transport in the lower Naches River and in the Yakima River between Union Gap and Selah Gap in Washington. River bathymetry and topographic data of the river channels are needed for the study to construct hydraulic models. River survey data were available for most of the study area, but river bathymetry and near-river topography were not available for Selah Gap, near the confluence of the Naches and Yakima Rivers, and for Union Gap. In August 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey surveyed the areas where data were not available. If possible, the surveys were made with a boat-mounted, single-beam echo sounder attached to a survey-grade Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) global positioning system (GPS). An RTK GPS rover was used on a walking survey of the river banks, shallow river areas, and river bed areas that were impenetrable to the echo sounder because of high densities of macrophytes. After the data were edited, 95,654 bathymetric points from the boat survey with the echo sounder and 1,069 points from the walking survey with the GPS rover were used in the study. The points covered 4.6 kilometers on the Yakima River and 0.6 kilometers on the Naches River. GPS-surveyed points checked within 0.014 to 0.047 meters in the horizontal direction and -0.036 to 0.078 meters in the vertical direction compared to previously established survey control points

Data Series↗
USGS2007

Re-Evaluation of the 1921 Peak Discharge at Skagit River near Concrete, Washington

The peak discharge record at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gaging station at Skagit River near Concrete, Washington, is a key record that has come under intense scrutiny by the scientific and lay person communities in the last 4 years. A peak discharge of 240,000 cubic feet per second for the flood on December 13, 1921, was determined in 1923 by USGS hydrologist James Stewart by means of a slope-area measurement. USGS then determined the peak discharges of three other large floods on the Skagit River (1897, 1909, and 1917) by extending the stage-discharge rating through the 1921 flood measurement. The 1921 estimate of peak discharge was recalculated by Flynn and Benson of the USGS after a channel roughness verification was completed based on the 1949 flood on the Skagit River. The 1949 recalculation indicated that the peak discharge probably was 6.2 percent lower than Stewart's original estimate but the USGS did not officially change the peak discharge from Stewart's estimate because it was not more than a 10-percent change (which is the USGS guideline for revising peak flows) and the estimate already had error bands of 15 percent. All these flood peaks are now being used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine the 100-year flood discharge for the Skagit River Flood Study so any method to confirm or improve the 1921 peak discharge estimate is warranted. During the last 4 years, two floods have occurred on the Skagit River (2003, 2006) that has enabled the USGS to collect additional data, do further analysis, and yet again re-evaluate the 1921 peak discharge estimate. Since 1949, an island/bar in the study reach has reforested itself. This has complicated the flow hydraulics and made the most recent recalculation of the 1921 flood based on channel roughness verification that used 2003 and 2006 flood data less reliable. However, this recent recalculation did indicate that the original peak-discharge calculation by Stewart may be high, and it added to a body of evidence that indicates a revision in the 1921 peak discharge estimate is appropriate. The USGS has determined that a lower peak-discharge estimate (5.0 percent lower) similar to the 1949 estimates is most appropriate based on (1) a recalculation of the 1921 flood using a channel roughness verification from the 1949 flood data, (2) a recalculation of the 1921 flood using a channel roughness verification from 2003 and 2006 flood data, and (3) straight-line extension of the stage-discharge relation at the gage based on current-meter discharge measurements. Given the significance of the 1921 flood peak, revising the estimate is appropriate even though it is less than the 10-percent guideline established by the USGS for revision. Revising the peak is warranted because all work subsequent to 1921 point to the 1921 peak being lower than originally published.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2005

Verification of 1921 peak discharge at Skagit River near Concrete, Washington, using 2003 peak-discharge data

The 1921 peak discharge at Skagit River near Concrete, Washington (U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging station 12194000), was verified using peak-discharge data from the flood of October 21, 2003, the largest flood since 1921. This peak discharge is critical to determining other high discharges at the gaging station and to reliably estimating the 100-year flood, the primary design flood being used in a current flood study of the Skagit River basin. The four largest annual peak discharges of record (1897, 1909, 1917, and 1921) were used to determine the 100-year flood discharge at Skagit River near Concrete. The peak discharge on December 13, 1921, was determined by James E. Stewart of the U.S. Geological Survey using a slope-area measurement and a contracted-opening measurement. An extended stage-discharge rating curve based on the 1921 peak discharge was used to determine the peak discharges of the three other large floods. Any inaccuracy in the 1921 peak discharge also would affect the accuracies of the three other largest peak discharges. The peak discharge of the 1921 flood was recalculated using the cross sections and high-water marks surveyed after the 1921 flood in conjunction with a new estimate of the channel roughness coefficient (n value) based on an n-verification analysis of the peak discharge of the October 21, 2003, flood. The n value used by Stewart for his slope-area measurement of the 1921 flood was 0.033, and the corresponding calculated peak discharge was 240,000 cubic feet per second (ft3/s). Determination of a single definitive water-surface profile for use in the n-verification analysis was precluded because of considerable variation in elevations of surveyed high-water marks from the flood on October 21, 2003. Therefore, n values were determined for two separate water-surface profiles thought to bracket a plausible range of water-surface slopes defined by high-water marks. The n value determined using the flattest plausible slope was 0.024 and the corresponding recalculated discharge of the 1921 slope-area measurement was 266,000 ft3/s. The n value determined using the steepest plausible slope was 0.032 and the corresponding recalculated discharge of the 1921 slope-area measurement was 215,000 ft3/s. The two recalculated discharges were 10.8 percent greater than (flattest slope) and 10.4 percent less than (steepest slope) the 1921 peak discharge of 240,000 ft3/s. The 1921 peak discharge was not revised because the average of the two recalculated discharges (240,500 ft3/s) is only 0.2 percent greater than the 1921 peak discharge.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2002

Fifty-year flood-inundation maps for La Ceiba, Honduras

After the devastating floods caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, maps of the areas and depths of the 50-year-flood inundation at 15 municipalities in Honduras were prepared as a tool for agencies involved in reconstruction and planning. This report, which is one in a series of 15, presents maps of areas in the municipality of La Ceiba that would be inundated by a 50-year-flood of Rio Cangrejal. Geographic Information System (GIS) coverages of the flood inundation are available on a computer in the municipality of La Ceiba as part of the Municipal GIS project and on the Internet at the Flood Hazard Mapping Web page (http://mitchnts1.cr.usgs.gov/projects/floodhazard.html). These coverages allow users to view the flood inundation in much more detail than is possible using the maps in this report. Water-surface elevations for a 50-year-flood discharge of 1,030 cubic meters per second on Rio Cangrejal at La Ceiba were computed using HEC-RAS, a one-dimensional, steady-flow, step-backwater computer program. The channel and floodplain cross sections used in HEC-RAS were developed from an airborne light-detection-and-ranging (LIDAR) topographic survey of the area. There are no nearby long-term stream-gaging stations on Rio Cangrejal; therefore, the 50-year-flood discharge for Rio Cangrejal at La Ceiba was estimated using a regression equation that relates the 50-year-flood discharge to drainage area and mean annual precipitation. The drainage area and mean annual precipitation estimated for Rio Cangrejal at La Ceiba are 498 square kilometers and 2,306 millimeters, respectively.

La Ceiba↗
USGS2002

Fifty-year flood-inundation maps for Nacaome, Honduras

After the devastating floods caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, maps of the areas and depths of 50-year-flood inundation at 15 municipalities in Honduras were prepared as a tool for agencies involved in reconstruction and planning. This report, which is one in a series of 15, presents maps of areas in the municipality of Nacaome that would be inundated by 50-year floods on Rio Nacaome, Rio Grande, and Rio Guacirope. Geographic Information System (GIS) coverages of the flood inundation are available on a computer in the municipality of Nacaome as part of the Municipal GIS project and on the Internet at the Flood Hazard Mapping Web page (http://mitchnts1.cr.usgs.gov/projects/floodhazard.html). These coverages allow users to view the flood inundation in much more detail than is possible using the maps in this report. Water-surface elevations for 50-year-floods on Rio Nacaome, Rio Grande, and Rio Guacirope at Nacaome were computed using HEC-RAS, a one-dimensional, steady-flow, step-backwater computer program. The channel and floodplain cross sections used in HEC-RAS were developed from an airborne light-detection-and-ranging (LIDAR) topographic survey of the area and ground surveys at two bridges. The estimated 50-year-flood discharge for Rio Nacaome at Nacaome, 5,040 cubic meters per second, was computed as the drainage-area-adjusted weighted average of two independently estimated 50-year-flood discharges for the gaging station Rio Nacaome en Las Mercedes, located about 13 kilometers upstream from Nacaome. One of the discharges, 4,549 cubic meters per second, was estimated from a frequency analysis of the 16 years of peak-discharge record for the gage, and the other, 1,922 cubic meters per second, was estimated from a regression equation that relates the 50-year-flood discharge to drainage area and mean annual precipitation. The weighted-average of the two discharges is 3,770 cubic meters per second. The 50-year-flood discharges for Rio Grande, 3,890 cubic meters per second, and Rio Guacirope, 1,080 cubic meters per second, were also computed by adjusting the weighted-average 50-year-flood discharge for the Rio Nacaome en Las Mercedes gaging station for the difference in drainage areas between the gage and these river reaches.

Nacaome↗
USGS2002

Fifty-year flood-inundation maps for Olanchito, Honduras

After the devastating floods caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, maps of the areas and depths of the 50-year-flood inundation at 15 municipalities in Honduras were prepared as a tool for agencies involved in reconstruction and planning. This report, which is one in a series of 15, presents maps of areas in the municipality of Olanchito that would be inundated by a 50-year-flood of Rio Uchapa. Geographic Information System (GIS) coverages of the flood inundation are available on a computer in the municipality of Olanchito as part of the Municipal GIS project and on the Internet at the Flood Hazard Mapping Web page (http://mitchnts1.cr.usgs.gov/projects/floodhazard.html). These coverages allow users to view the flood inundation in much more detail than is possible using the maps in this report. Water-surface elevations for a 50-year-flood discharge of 243 cubic meters per second on Rio Uchapa at Olanchito were estimated using HEC-RAS, a one-dimensional, steady-flow, step-backwater computer program. The channel and floodplain cross sections used in HEC-RAS were developed from an airborne light-detection-and-ranging (LIDAR) topographic survey of the area. There are no nearby long-term stream-gaging stations on Rio Uchapa; therefore, the 50-year-flood discharge for Rio Uchapa was estimated using a regression equation that relates the 50-year-flood discharge to drainage area and mean annual precipitation. The drainage area and mean annual precipitation estimated for Rio Uchapa at Olanchito are 97.1 square kilometers and 1,178 millimeters, respectively.

Olanchito↗
USGS2002

Watershed models for decision support in the Yakima River basin, Washington

A Decision Support System (DSS) is being developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Reclamation as part of a long-term project, the Watershed and River Systems Management Program. The goal of the program is to apply the DSS to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation projects in the western United States. The DSS was applied to the Reclamation's Yakima Project in the Yakima River Basin in eastern Washington. An important component of the DSS is the physical hydrology modeling. For the application to the Yakima River Basin, the physical hydrology component consisted of constructing four watershed models using the U.S. Geological Survey's Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System within the Modular Modeling System. The implementation of these models is described. To facilitate calibration of the models, mean annual streamflow also was estimated for ungaged subbasins. The models were calibrated for water years 1950-94 and tested for water years 1995-98. The integration of the models in the DSS for real-time water-management operations using an interface termed the Object User Interface is also described. The models were incorporated in the DSS for use in long-term to short-term planning and have been used in a real-time operational mode since water year 1999.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2002

Flood-hazard mapping in Honduras in response to Hurricane Mitch

The devastation in Honduras due to flooding from Hurricane Mitch in 1998 prompted the U.S. Agency for International Development, through the U.S. Geological Survey, to develop a country-wide systematic approach of flood-hazard mapping and a demonstration of the method at selected sites as part of a reconstruction effort. The design discharge chosen for flood-hazard mapping was the flood with an average return interval of 50 years, and this selection was based on discussions with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Honduran Public Works and Transportation Ministry. A regression equation for estimating the 50-year flood discharge using drainage area and annual precipitation as the explanatory variables was developed, based on data from 34 long-term gaging sites. This equation, which has a standard error of prediction of 71.3 percent, was used in a geographic information system to estimate the 50-year flood discharge at any location for any river in the country. The flood-hazard mapping method was demonstrated at 15 selected municipalities. High-resolution digital-elevation models of the floodplain were obtained using an airborne laser-terrain mapping system. Field verification of the digital elevation models showed that the digital-elevation models had mean absolute errors ranging from -0.57 to 0.14 meter in the vertical dimension. From these models, water-surface elevation cross sections were obtained and used in a numerical, one-dimensional, steady-flow stepbackwater model to estimate water-surface profiles corresponding to the 50-year flood discharge. From these water-surface profiles, maps of area and depth of inundation were created at the 13 of the 15 selected municipalities. At La Lima only, the area and depth of inundation of the channel capacity in the city was mapped. At Santa Rose de Aguan, no numerical model was created. The 50-year flood and the maps of area and depth of inundation are based on the estimated 50-year storm tide.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS2001

User's guide to SSARRMENU

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Pierce County Department of Public Works, Washington, has developed an operational tool called the Puyallup Flood-Alert System to alert users of impending floods in the Puyallup River Basin. The system acquires and incorporates meteorological and hydrological data into the Streamflow Synthesis and Reservoir Regulation (SSARR) hydrologic flow-routing model to simulate floods in the Puyallup River Basin. SSARRMENU is the user-interactive graphical interface between the user, the input and output data, and the SSARR model. In a companion cooperative project with Pierce County, the SSARR model for the Puyallup River Basin was calibrated and validated. The calibrated model is accessed through SSARRMENU, which has been specifically programed for the Puyallup River and the needs of Pierce County. SSARRMENU automates the retrieval of data from ADAPS (Automated DAta Processing System, the U.S. Geological Survey?s real-time hydrologic database), formats the data for use with SSARR, initiates SSARR model runs, displays alerts for impending floods, and provides utilities to display the simulated and observed data. An on-screen map of the basin and a series of menu items provide the user wi

Open-File Report↗
USGS1996

Surface-water hydrology and runoff simulations for three basins in Pierce County, Washington

The surface-water hydrology in Clear, Clarks, and Clover Creek Basins in central Pierce County, Washington, is described with a conceptual model of the runoff processes and then simulated with the Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF), a continuous, deterministic hydrologic model. The study area is currently undergoing a rapid conversion of rural, undeveloped land to urban and suburban land that often changes the flow characteristics of the streams that drain these lands. The complex interactions of land cover, climate, soils, topography, channel characteristics, and ground- water flow patterns determine the surface-water hydrology of the study area and require a complex numerical model to assess the impact of urbanization on streamflows. The U.S. Geological Survey completed this investigation in cooperation with the Storm Drainage and Surface Water Management Utility within the Pierce County Department of Public Works to describe the important rainfall-runoff processes within the study area and to develop a simulation model to be used as a tool to predict changes in runoff characteristics resulting from changes in land use. The conceptual model, a qualitative representation of the study basins, links the physical characteristics to the runoff process of the study basins. The model incorporates 11 generalizations identified by the investigation, eight of which describe runoff from hillslopes, and three that account for the effects of channel characteristics and ground-water flow patterns on runoff. Stream discharge was measured at 28 sites and precipitation was measured at six sites for 3 years in two overlapping phases during the period of October 1989 through September 1992 to calibrate and validate the simulation model. Comparison of rainfall data from October 1989 through September 1992 shows the data-collection period beginning with 2 wet water years followed by the relatively dry 1992 water year. Runoff was simulated with two basin models-the Clover Creek Basin model and the Clear-Clarks Basin model-by incorporating the generalizations of the conceptual model into the construction of two HSPF numerical models. Initially, the process-related parameters for runoff from glacial-till hillslopes were calibrated with numerical models for three catchment sites and one headwater basin where streamflows were continuously measured and little or no influence from ground water, channel storage, or channel losses affected runoff. At one of the catchments soil moisture was monitored and compared with simulated soil moisture. The values for these parameters were used in the basin models. Basin models were calibrated to the first year of observed streamflow data by adjusting other parameters in the numerical model that simulated channel losses, simulated channel storage in a few of the reaches in the headwaters and in the floodplain of the main stem of Clover Creek, and simulated volume and outflow of the ground-water reservoir representing the regional ground-water aquifers. The models were run for a second year without any adjustments, and simulated results were compared with observed results as a measure of validation of the models. The investigation showed the importance of defining the ground-water flow boundaries and demonstrated a simple method of simulating the influence of the regional ground-water aquifer on streamflows. In the Clover Creek Basin model, ground-water flow boundaries were used to define subbasins containing mostly glacial outwash soils and not containing any surface drainage channels. In the Clear-Clarks Basin model, ground-water flow boundaries outlined a recharge area outside the surface-water boundaries of the basin that was incorporated into the model in order to provide sufficient water to balance simulated ground-water outflows to the creeks. A simulated ground-water reservoir used to represent regional ground-water flow processes successfully provided the proper water balance of inflows and outfl

Washington↗