FIELD MONITORING OF RIVER ICE DYNAMICS AND BANK CONDITIONS FOR THE BUFFALO RIVER (MINNESOTA, USA)

Cold/temperate regions of the world experience persistent cold during the winter resulting in the accumulation of river ice. In the spring, seasonal change brings flooding sometimes coincident with the thawing and transportation of ice. The concurrence of these two events is capable of causing erosion that dominates the net annual erosion of a river. Field monitoring using motion-activated trail cameras and temperature and moisture sensors allows one to capture bank conditions along with the dynamics of ice, the timing of breakup relative to flooding, and the overall nature of a breakup (thermal or physical). In capturing bank conditions, we can note the state of the banks as being frozen or thawed when breakup and flooding occurs , which may play a role in the magnitude of erosion during that time. Multiple instances of field monitoring during breakup show inconsistent patterns of bank thawing, flooding, and ice break up.