Photographs and hydrographic survey data from longitudinal river surveys of Willamette River tributaries, 2022 and 2023

In 2022 and 2023, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted longitudinal photographic and hydrographic surveys of major tributaries to the Willamette River in the Cascade Range, Oregon. These surveys integrated simultaneous above-water 360-degree photographs, underwater photographs, high-accuracy Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning measurements, and single-beam sonar measurements. Hydrographic surveys were conducted from boats navigating downstream, or by a data collector walking along the river with a camera. A 360-degree photograph is a spherical image stored as equirectangular raster image which allows users to interactively visualize all directions (0–360 degrees horizontally and -90 to +90 degrees vertically). The underwater photographs were collected in conventional, planar format, and depict the channel bed substrate. Photograph collections were subsampled to create longitudinal datasets, with all data joined by timestamp of collection, spaced at approximately 10 meters of distance along the rivers. Longitudinal profiles of water surface and bed elevations were produced from single-beam sonar measurements, coupled with GNSS measurements and bathymetric lidar data. Photographic and hydrographic data were collected along approximately 336 km of the North Santiam River, 334 km of the McKenzie River, 152 km of the North Santiam River, 2 km of the Middle Santiam River, and less than 1 km of the Little North Santiam River. This data release includes zipped folders of photographs, and a table with photograph information, GNSS positioning measurements, and sonar depth measurements for all surveys. GNSS measurements and sonar depth measurements in this data release have been previously published (White and others, 2023; 2026). Void-filled topo-bathymetric Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) (White and others 2023;2026) were used to add elevation data to photographs without paired GNSS measurements.

References:
White, J.S., Overstreet, B.T., and Bartelt, K.M., 2023, Digital elevation model and single beam sonar data from the McKenzie River, Oregon, 2021: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9QS5V0C.
White, J.S., Overstreet, B.T., Dudunake, T.J., Haluska, P.A., Bartelt, K.M., and Price, J.R., 2026, Topo-bathymetric datasets in the Santiam River Basin, Oregon: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P15ESDOR.