Data from: Investigating wave erosion for a model on-farm storage reservoir embankment in a laboratory wave tank

Irrigation reservoirs are used to reduce dependence on limited groundwater resources in the Mississippi river alluvial floodplain. The earthen embankments that enclose the reservoirs can be eroded by wind-generated waves, resulting in farmers needing to make expensive repairs. Though the embankments are usually constructed with locally available soils, the vast majority of wave erosion research has focused on sand beaches. In order to compare the existing research on sand beach erosion to inland reservoir erosion, the current study tests a model sand embankment impacted by waves similar to those of a previous study that used an earthen soil embankment. The experimental data were compared with mathematical models of embankment erosion, and the data were tested with one mathematical model that was able to predict embankment erosion for both sand and earthen embankments. Potential users of the information in this manuscript include anyone who needs to predict how fast an earthen embankment will erode when hit with waves, such as personnel from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the United States Corp of Engineers, the United States Bureau of Reclamation, and the United States Geological Survey, as well as academic researchers involved in related scientific work.