Data for channel width of the Cannon River, Minnesota, 1938-2017

Datasets analyzed and generated to measure channel width change of the Cannon and Straight Rivers, Minnesota. Includes aerial imagery and derived files to describe river geometry. Aerial imagery was originally accessed from USGS Earth Explorer and the University of Minnesota Minnesota Historical Aerial Photographs Online portal. 1939_ASCS.zip, 1951_USDA.zip, 1948_USGS.zip, 1964_ASCS.zip, 1974_USGS_mosaic.zip, 1974_single_images.zip, 1980_USGS.zip, 2002_NAIP.zip, 2010_NAIP.zip, 2017_NAIP.zip These zip files contain aerial images from from 1938, 1951, 1958, 1964, 1974, 1980, 1991, 2002, 2010, and 2017, sorted into folders by year. Aerial images are included as raw downloaded images and (where applicable) georectified images. Ground control points used for rectification are included for rectified photos. For a number of years, a mosaicked image was created and is included. shapefiles.zip This zip file contains derived shapefiles to describe river geometry. The active channel of the river was digitized for each year of available imagery. This included the upper Cannon River (upstream of its confluence with the Straight River), the Straight River, and the lower Cannon (downstream of the confluence with the Straight River). From the active channel boundaries, the centerline and width was extracted using the Planform Statistics tool in Arcmap (Lauer, W. NCED Stream Restoration Toolbox-Channel Planform Statistics And ArcMap Project, National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics). Width was extracted at 10 m intervals, and the data is stored in points at each 10 m interval. Meander migration between years was also calculated using the same toolbox. Sinuosity was calculated for channel segments of various lengths.