LIDAR and Multispectral Imagery Data for the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park: A Critical Need for Climate Change Mitigation Planning

In response to the rapid and dramatic hydroecological deterioration of the Rio Grande through Big Bend, the Big Bend Conservation Cooperative (BBCC), a multi-disciplinary group of natural resource agencies, research institutions, and conservation organizations have been organizing and implementing a wide range of river rehabilitation, scientific research activities and climate change initiatives. More recently, the Basin and Bay Expert Science Team, part of an environmental flows initiative by the state of Texas, is using best available science to recommend environmental flow regimes for the major rivers of Texas. Limited understating of the sediment dynamics of the Rio Grande and riparian vegetation change hinders river management as well as understanding of the effectiveness of rehabilitation activities and how the river will be affected by climate change. This project will use aerial-based Light Detecting and Ranging (LiDaR) and multispectral imagery to generate baseline topographic, near-channel vegetation data (maps) and extremely accurate terrain models. This information will be combined with a one-dimensional flow routing model recently developed by Utah State University and the USGS and a program to monitor tributary sediment input to enhance the ability to quantify future geomorphic and riparian changes, as well as investigate sediment transport, evacuation, and storage under a variety of flow scenarios.