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Study Area: Tucannon River Watershed
Project: Columbia River Habitat Monitoring Program (CHaMP)
The Interactive Catchment Explorer (ICE) is a dynamic visualization for exploring catchment characteristics and environmental model predictions. ICE is part of the Spatial Hydro-ecological Decision System (SHEDS).
First time here? Watch the introductory video.
ICE is intended for resource managers and researchers to identify spatial patterns related to ecological conditions, identify priority locations for restoration or further study, and explore complex, multivariate environmental datasets and model results.
ICE was designed using a number of core interactive visualization principles and provides the following functionalities:
ICE is currently supported on the latest versions of all major web browsers. Google Chrome is highly recommended for the best user experience. ICE is not intended for use on mobile devices.
Note that ICE is a memory-intensive application. Older computers may have difficulty rendering the interface resulting in sluggish performance. If you run into issues, we recommend closing all other programs and browser tabs to increase available memory.
Interactive Catchment Explorer v0.4 (click here to watch in HD).
ICE combines data from a number of sources. The following list describes each variable.
| Elevation (m) | Average elevation in meters. |
| Stream Power (log[kg*m/s3]) | The rate of energy dissipation over the river bed in kg*m/s3. (Streampower=gravity*density of water*discharge*slope). Values are transformed to log10 scale. |
| Upstream Catchment Area (km2) | Average cumulative upstream drainage area. |
| Gradient (%) | The average change in elevation across 200m stream segments. |
| Human Disturbance Classification PCA Score | Disturbance condition rating considering population and land use factors. It is calculated as the first Principle Components of a multivariate analysis. Note that the PCA values have been shifted by adding 100 to avoid including any negative values, which are not supported in ICE. |
| Steelhead Intrinsic Potential | A rating of the intrinsic potential for a 200m stream reach to support steelhead. It is modeled by assessing habitat quality from regional spatial data, fisheries surveys, and professional knowledge. |
| Chinook Intrinsic Potential | A rating of the intrinsic potential for a 200m stream reach to support chinook. It is modeled by assessing habitat quality from regional spatial data, fisheries surveys, and professional knowledge. |
| Riparian Ground Cover (%) | Estimate of the percent of groundcover vegetation. Calculated from visual estimates of the percent groundcover cover in each of ten plots at CHaMP sites and modeled for the entire stream length within an RCA. |
| Average Riparian Condition | Ratio of the average Existing Vegetation Type to the pre-European Biophysical Settings (BpS) within the riparian corridor. Numbers closer to 1 indicate pre-settlement conditions, while numbers closer to 0 indicate degraded riparian conditions. Modeled for the entire stream length and averaged within an RCA. |
| Conifer Encroachment (%) | The proportion of the Existing Vegetation Type in the riparian corridor that has become coniferous forest when compared to the pre-European Biophysical Settings (BpS). Modeled for the entire stream length and averaged within an RCA. |
| Agricultural Conversion (%) | The proportion of the Existing Vegetation Type in the riparian corridor that has become cultivated agricultural lands when compared to the pre-European Biophysical Settings (BpS). Modeled for the entire stream length and averaged within an RCA. |
| Developed Conversion (%) | The proportion of the Existing Vegetation Type in the riparian corridor that has been developed when compared to the pre-European Biophysical Settings (BpS). Modeled for the entire stream length and averaged within an RCA. |
| No Change (%) | The proportion of the Existing Vegetation Type in the riparian corridor that has not changed when compared to the pre-European Biophysical Settings (BpS). Modeled for the entire stream length and averaged within an RCA. |
| Large Woody Debris Recruitment Potential | Modeled probability that large woody debris (LWD) will be recruited to the river on a reach by reach basis. The output is a stream network where each segment has an associated value (between 0 and 1). |
| Floodplain Condition | Modeled floodplain condition that uses three,equally weighted inputs relevant to a condition assessment: riparian vegetation condition, land use intensity, and fragmentation due to transportation infrastructure. The modeled output represents therelative condition of the floodplain, where values near 10 are the areas of floodplain that are in the best condition within the watershed, and values closer to 0 are the areas within the watershed where the floodplain is in the worst condition. |
| Sinuosity | The ratio of the thalweg length to the straight line distance between the start and end points of a CHaMP survey. This directly measured metric was then modeled for the entire stream network and averaged within the RCA. |
| Bankfull Width:Depth | Average width to depth ratio of the bankfull channel. CHaMP collected topographic data generates a DEM from which cross-sections are calculated every 0.5m of the bankfull polygon. The bankfull width is divided by the average depth at each cross-section and averaged for a site. This directly measured metric was modeled for the entire stream network and averaged within the RCA. |
| Confinement | The proportion of stream length within a segment (~1km) where the bankfull channel and valley bottom margins overlap on at least one margin (left or right) of the channel. Values were then averaged for the RCA. |
| Percent Slow Water (%) | Percent of wetted area that is identified as Slow Water channel units. This metric is directly measured through CHaMP surveys and then modeled for the entire stream network and averaged within the RCA. |
| Net Rate Energy Intake (fish/m) | Carrying capacity of juvenile salmonid per meter of stream is estimated based on an energy model where the energy to occupy a stream location is campared to energy available from prey drift invertabrates at the same location. |
| Chinook Spawner Habitat Suitability (m2/m) | Suitable spawning habitat area (WUA in m2) per meter of stream length for Chinook. |
| Steelhead Spawner Habitat Suitability (m2/m) | Suitable spawning habitat area (WUA in m2) per meter of stream length for Steelhead. |
| Juvenile Chinook Habitat Suitability (m2/m) | Suitable habitat area (WUA in m2) per meter of stream length for juvenile Chinook. |
| Juvenile Steelhead Habitat Suitability (m2/m) | Suitable habitat area (WUA in m2) per meter of stream length for juvenile Steelhead. |
| Percent Gravel (%) | Visual estimate of the percent of coarse and fine gravel (> 2-64 mm particle size) within the wetted stream area of a CHaMP site. It is estimated for each channel unit, then weighted by channel unit area to arrive at site-wide estimate, which is then modeled and averaged for the RCA. |
| Percent Fines < 2mm (%) | Average percentage of pool tail substrates comprised of fine sediment < 2 mm. In a CHaMP site survey, a fines grid with 50 intersections is placed at three locations at the tail of Slow Water/Pool and Non-Turbulent channel units. For each grid, the number of intersections < 2 mm, and 2-6 mm is recorded for each grid. The percent of fines < 2 mm for each grid is calculated by dividing the total number of < 2 mm intersections by 50 (intersections) minus the number of nonmeasureable intersections. Results are averaged for a site and then modeled and averaged for the RCA. |
| Mean 2011 Max Summer Temperature | Mean Maximum Temeprature between July 15th and August 31st (2011). Modeled for the entire stream length and averaged within an RCA. |
| Mean 2012 Max Summer Temperature | Mean Maximum Temeprature between July 15th and August 31st (2012). Modeled for the entire stream length and averaged within an RCA. |
| Mean 2013 Max Summer Temperature | Mean Maximum Temeprature between July 15th and August 31st (2013). Modeled for the entire stream length and averaged within an RCA. |
| Average Solar Input (kWh/m2) | A measure of the solar radiation availability at a site (kWh/m2). Solar radiation was modeled using a GIS tool (ESRI) from canopy height data in a 30m buffer around streams. Insolation data from CHaMP surveys was averaged across July and August and used to validate GIS modeled solar radiation. |
ICE is developed by:
ICE is funded by the NE Climate Science Center, North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative, USGS and DOI Hurricane Sandy Restoration funds, and the USGS National Climate Science Center.