Premium
The pulse of driftwood export from a very large forested river basin over multiple time scales, Slave River, Canada
Author(s) -
Kramer Natalie,
Wohl Ellen,
HessHomeier Brooke,
Leisz Stephen
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1002/2016wr019260
Subject(s) - channel (broadcasting) , slumping , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , flux (metallurgy) , artifact (error) , structural basin , physical geography , magnitude (astronomy) , drainage basin , geology , geography , geomorphology , cartography , geotechnical engineering , materials science , physics , engineering , neuroscience , astronomy , electrical engineering , metallurgy , biology
This study presents a case study of large wood transport on the great Slave River in northern Canada with the objective to better understand the processes of and variability in pulsed wood fluxes from large forested catchments. We use a varied approach, integrating field characterization of wood, historical anecdotes, repeat aerial imagery of stored wood, and time‐lapse imagery of moving wood, for a robust analysis and synthesis of processes behind pulsed wood flux, from yearly uncongested export to rare congested wood floods. Repeat monitoring of known sites of temporary storage with new or historic imagery proved to be a very useful tool for constraining wood flux histories. Pulsed wood export on the Slave River is not an artifact of episodic recruitment from major up‐basin disturbances, but rather reflects decadal‐ to half‐century‐scale discharge patterns that redistribute wood recruited from channel migration and bank slumping. We suggest that the multiyear flow history is of paramount importance for estimating wood flux magnitude, followed in declining importance by the yearly sequence of peaks and the magnitude and characteristics of the rising limb of individual floods.