Informatics Theme: Utilizing multiple sources of information for continuous topobathymetry.

Utilizing multiple sources of information for continuous topobathymetry.
WHAT

Problem Statement: How can we use multiple sources of observed elevation and bathymetry to create a continuous best estimate of channel geometry and coastal bathymetry?

WHY
Goal: When building modeling frameworks that span uplands, flood-plains, major rivers, and coastal areas, multiple sources of topography and bathymetry must be utilized together. They may have different accuracy, datum, or abstraction (points/lines vs grids).

HOW
Approach: Review existing practices from oceanographic, hydrologic, hydrographic, hydrometric, and hydrodynamic domains for measurement and modeling topo-bathymetric data. Propose model-data fusion methods to incorporate multiple sources of information to estimate representative channel shape, elevation, and slope.
Student Learning Goals: Students learn best practices for geospatial data collection and integration using reproducible workflows and team-based software development techniques.
Links to other projects: The problems addressed here is critical to a smooth transition from inland to coastal topo-bathymetry for routing and flood inundation. There is a potential, if pursued, to use the outcomes of this project as a demonstration of methods developed in other coastal theme projects.
Training opportunities: This project will be part of the coastal theme: students who participate in this theme will have 3 days of intensive training at the SI learning the specific needs of coupled inland-coastal modeling. Additional training and support will be available from the informatics and computational methods theme leads.
Supplementary Materials:
Explore research on continental channel geometry data needs: https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR019285 and others.
Explore research on data fusion for bathymetric data: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.604259 and others.

DATA - What (or what types of) input data will be required?
Model Data: Existing Delaware River Basin model spatial framework.
Observed Data: Data collected by NWS Coastal Team for Delaware River model. Cross section data from USGS and other sources. Other data sources TBD.