River current velocity measures for select areas of the St. Croix River, 2023-2024

Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) surveys were conducted in October 2023 and August 2024 along several miles of the St. Croix River to measure water current velocities. Although ADCP is commonly used to estimate river discharge, these surveys were designed for a different purpose; therefore, USGS ADCP standards were not followed. Instead, we evaluated alternative approaches to obtain meaningful measurements that link physical water movement with biological processes, such as glochidia transport and host fish migration patterns.

To identify the most efficient and accurate method for velocity mapping across large habitat areas, we tested multiple collection strategies, including reciprocal pairs, single transects, and zigzag patterns across the river channel. Most data were collected using techniques similar to those described by Jacobson et al. (2002) for habitat assessment. The resulting dataset includes text files in comma-separated values (CSV) format exported from RiverSurveyor, along with Stationary Moving-Bed Analysis (SMBA) measurements.

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