Potamology Data Collection on Lower Mississippi River

The potamology data collection program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District, is designed to provide adequate, dependable data on the behavior of the Lower Mississippi River. The data are being used to establish guidelines for effectively and economically stabilizing the river for flood control and navigation. Channel stabilization problems involve not only the most feasible means of stabilizing specific reaches of the river, but also long-range predictions hydrographic surveys, bed form profiles, current direction, discharge and horizontal velocity distribution, bed material and suspended sediment samples, and water surface profiles. Emphasis is placed on standardized data documentation in order to minimize the amount of time necessary to prepare the data for study and to enable personnel who are relatively unfamiliar with details of the program to use the data confidently.