Bathymetric data for the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers -- Pool 4

Water depth is an important feature of aquatic systems. On the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), water depth data are important for describing the physical template of the system and monitoring changes in the template caused by sedimentation. Although limited point or transect sampling of water depth can provide valuable information on habitat character in the UMRS as a whole, the generation of bathymetric surfaces are critical for conducting spatial inventories of the aquatic habitat. The maps are also useful for detecting bed elevation changes in a spatial manner as opposed to the more common method of measuring changes along transects. The Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) has been collecting bathymetric data within the UMRS since 1989 in conjunction with the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP).