Topographic change, vegetation change, drift potential and resultant drift direction data for riparian vegetation management sites in Grand Canyon National Park

These data represent measured topographic changes and vegetation changes of coupled sandbar-dunefield systems at six sites distributed across a 238-mile (383-km) segment of the Colorado River within Grand Canyon National Park, downstream of Glen Canyon Dam. The topographic change and vegetation change data are derived from lidar remote sensing conducted annually at each site. Drift potential (DP) and resultant drift direction (RDD), calculated from wind observations at five nearby U.S. Geological Survey weather stations, are provided as context for natural variability in topographic change. DP is a measure of the relative potential magnitude of sediment transport by wind, termed aeolian sand drift, and RDD estimates the magnitude of drift along the predominant wind direction.