Erin N Coenen
Erin Coenen is a Hydrologist with the Upper Midwest Water Science Center in Mounds View, MN.
Erin Coenen is a Hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Upper Midwest Water Science Center in Minnesota. Since joining the USGS in 2014, she has worked within the River and Coastal Processes team in regional and national studies. Her work focuses on suspended-sediment transport and has spent multiple field seasons collecting suspended sediment, bed load, bed material, and water quality samples. She supports the maintenance of hydroacoustic equipment in surface water studies and assists with developing statistical models to predict the fate and transport of sediment in the environment. Some of her other project work includes bathymetry surveys, stream restoration, sediment oxygen demand rates, and database management.
Science and Products
Minnesota Point post-nourishment surveys of the beach topography and near-shore bathymetry of Lake Superior, Duluth, MN, September - October, 2021 (ver. 2.0, September 2024)
This data represents elevation of the beach topography and near-shore bathymetry of Lake Superior at two beach nourishment locations along Minnesota Point, Duluth, Minnesota. The first location is near the Superior point of entry, and was surveyed in September 2021. The second location is near the Duluth Entry and was surveyed in October 2021. LiDAR data were collected using a Velodyne...
Suspended-sediment, bedload, bed-sediment, and multibeam sonar data in the Chippewa River, WI
These data were compiled for analyses of sediment transport within the Chippewa River, WI. Objective(s) of our study were to determine sand loads contributed by the Chippewa River to the Mississippi River. These data include physical suspended-sediment samples, acoustical suspended-sediment measurements, acoustical suspended-sediment loads, quasi-continuous measurements of bed-elevation...
Suspended-sediment concentrations, acoustic data, and linear regression models for the Lower Minnesota River, Mississippi River, and Lake Pepin, 2015-2017
A series of linear regression models were developed and calibrated for the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The linear regression models were calibrated using acoustic and suspended-sediment concentration data collected from March through November 2016 and 2017. The estimates of suspended-sediment concentrations from the linear regression were used to calculate loads. The calibrated...
Suspended sediment and bedload transport along the Main and South Branches, Wild Rice River, northwestern Minnesota, 1979 through 2023
The geologic history and anthropogenic modifications of Minnesota’s Wild Rice River have caused major morphological adjustments, which induce erosion and excess fluvial sediment transport. The excess sediment deposits in the lower Wild Rice River, exacerbating flooding. To help mitigate these problems, the Wild Rice Watershed District has future plans to implement a river restoration on...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Sara B. Levin, Gerald G. Storey, Erin N. Coenen, Jim D. Blount, J. William Lund, David J. Brannon
Using machine learning in Minnesota’s StreamStats to predict fluvial sediment
A thorough understanding of fluvial sediment transport is essential for addressing key environmental issues such as aquatic habitat degradation, flooding, excess nutrients, and challenges with river restoration. Fluvial sediment samples are valuable for addressing these concerns, but their collection is often impractical across all rivers and timeframes of interest. In addition...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, J. William Lund, Erin N. Coenen, Andrea S. Medenblik, Harper N. Wavra, Mike Kennedy, Gregory D. Johnson
A novel suspended-sediment sampling method: Depth-Integrated Grab (DIG)
Measuring suspended sediment in fluvial systems is critical to understanding and managing water resources. Sampling suspended sediment has been the primary means of understanding fluvial suspended sediment. Specialized samplers, sampling methods, and laboratory methods developed by select U.S. Federal Agencies are more representative of river and stream conditions than commonly used grab...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Sara B. Levin, Erin N. Coenen, J. William Lund, Gregory D. Johnson
Comparing empirical sediment transport modeling approaches in Michigan rivers
Excess or limited fluvial sediment transport can contribute to and exacerbate many environmental issues including nutrient loading, aquatic habitat degradation, flooding, channel navigation dredging, dam operation, and stream degradation or aggradation. However, fluvial sediment transport is difficult and expensive to comprehensively characterize because it can vary substantially both...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Sara B. Levin, Erin N. Coenen, J. William Lund, Bethany Matousek
The use of continuous sediment-transport measurements to improve sand-load estimates in a large sand-bedded river: The Lower Chippewa River, WI
Accurately determining sediment loads is necessary for managing river environments but is difficult because multiple processes can lead to large discharge-independent changes in sediment transport. Thus, estimations of sediment load using discharge–sediment rating curves fit to sparse or historical sediment-transport measurements can be inaccurate, necessitating alternative approaches to...
Authors
David Dean, David Topping, D. D. Buscombe, Joel T. Groten, Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, Faith A. Fitzpatrick, J. William Lund, Erin Nicole Coenen
Sediment monitoring and streamflow modeling before and after a stream restoration in Rice Creek, Minnesota, 2010–2019
The Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) cooperated with the U.S. Geological Survey to establish a 10-year suspended sediment and bedload monitoring and streamflow modeling study to evaluate the effects of two restored meander sections on middle Rice Creek in Arden Hills, Minnesota. The RCWD goals of this stream restoration were to reduce water quality impairments, improve aquatic...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Colin T. Livdahl, Stephen B. DeLong, J. William Lund, Jonathan M. Nelson, Erin N. Coenen, Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, Matthew J. Kocian
Using acoustic Doppler velocity meters to estimate suspended sediment along the lower Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers
Lake Pepin is the largest naturally formed lake on the Mississippi River and has complex management needs to satisfy economic, environmental, and cultural demands. Lake Pepin is filling in with sediment at a rapid rate compared to conditions before settlement by European immigrants and intense agricultural cultivation. Accordingly, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has developed...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, J. William Lund, Christopher A. Ellison, Samuel B. Costa, Erin N. Coenen, Erich W. Kessler
Sediment oxygen demand: A review of in situ methods
Sediment oxygen demand (SOD) plays a fundamental role in biological and chemical processes within the benthic layer of a water body. Land use, including agricultural land use, can affect SOD. However, a wide variety of approaches have been used for in situ SOD chamber construction and data collection, and modelers frequently use SOD values from the literature, without consideration of...
Authors
Erin N. Coenen, Victoria G. Christensen, Lynn Bartsch, Rebecca Kreiling, William B. Richardson
Science and Products
Minnesota Point post-nourishment surveys of the beach topography and near-shore bathymetry of Lake Superior, Duluth, MN, September - October, 2021 (ver. 2.0, September 2024)
This data represents elevation of the beach topography and near-shore bathymetry of Lake Superior at two beach nourishment locations along Minnesota Point, Duluth, Minnesota. The first location is near the Superior point of entry, and was surveyed in September 2021. The second location is near the Duluth Entry and was surveyed in October 2021. LiDAR data were collected using a Velodyne...
Suspended-sediment, bedload, bed-sediment, and multibeam sonar data in the Chippewa River, WI
These data were compiled for analyses of sediment transport within the Chippewa River, WI. Objective(s) of our study were to determine sand loads contributed by the Chippewa River to the Mississippi River. These data include physical suspended-sediment samples, acoustical suspended-sediment measurements, acoustical suspended-sediment loads, quasi-continuous measurements of bed-elevation...
Suspended-sediment concentrations, acoustic data, and linear regression models for the Lower Minnesota River, Mississippi River, and Lake Pepin, 2015-2017
A series of linear regression models were developed and calibrated for the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The linear regression models were calibrated using acoustic and suspended-sediment concentration data collected from March through November 2016 and 2017. The estimates of suspended-sediment concentrations from the linear regression were used to calculate loads. The calibrated...
Suspended sediment and bedload transport along the Main and South Branches, Wild Rice River, northwestern Minnesota, 1979 through 2023
The geologic history and anthropogenic modifications of Minnesota’s Wild Rice River have caused major morphological adjustments, which induce erosion and excess fluvial sediment transport. The excess sediment deposits in the lower Wild Rice River, exacerbating flooding. To help mitigate these problems, the Wild Rice Watershed District has future plans to implement a river restoration on...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Sara B. Levin, Gerald G. Storey, Erin N. Coenen, Jim D. Blount, J. William Lund, David J. Brannon
Using machine learning in Minnesota’s StreamStats to predict fluvial sediment
A thorough understanding of fluvial sediment transport is essential for addressing key environmental issues such as aquatic habitat degradation, flooding, excess nutrients, and challenges with river restoration. Fluvial sediment samples are valuable for addressing these concerns, but their collection is often impractical across all rivers and timeframes of interest. In addition...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, J. William Lund, Erin N. Coenen, Andrea S. Medenblik, Harper N. Wavra, Mike Kennedy, Gregory D. Johnson
A novel suspended-sediment sampling method: Depth-Integrated Grab (DIG)
Measuring suspended sediment in fluvial systems is critical to understanding and managing water resources. Sampling suspended sediment has been the primary means of understanding fluvial suspended sediment. Specialized samplers, sampling methods, and laboratory methods developed by select U.S. Federal Agencies are more representative of river and stream conditions than commonly used grab...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Sara B. Levin, Erin N. Coenen, J. William Lund, Gregory D. Johnson
Comparing empirical sediment transport modeling approaches in Michigan rivers
Excess or limited fluvial sediment transport can contribute to and exacerbate many environmental issues including nutrient loading, aquatic habitat degradation, flooding, channel navigation dredging, dam operation, and stream degradation or aggradation. However, fluvial sediment transport is difficult and expensive to comprehensively characterize because it can vary substantially both...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Sara B. Levin, Erin N. Coenen, J. William Lund, Bethany Matousek
The use of continuous sediment-transport measurements to improve sand-load estimates in a large sand-bedded river: The Lower Chippewa River, WI
Accurately determining sediment loads is necessary for managing river environments but is difficult because multiple processes can lead to large discharge-independent changes in sediment transport. Thus, estimations of sediment load using discharge–sediment rating curves fit to sparse or historical sediment-transport measurements can be inaccurate, necessitating alternative approaches to...
Authors
David Dean, David Topping, D. D. Buscombe, Joel T. Groten, Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, Faith A. Fitzpatrick, J. William Lund, Erin Nicole Coenen
Sediment monitoring and streamflow modeling before and after a stream restoration in Rice Creek, Minnesota, 2010–2019
The Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) cooperated with the U.S. Geological Survey to establish a 10-year suspended sediment and bedload monitoring and streamflow modeling study to evaluate the effects of two restored meander sections on middle Rice Creek in Arden Hills, Minnesota. The RCWD goals of this stream restoration were to reduce water quality impairments, improve aquatic...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Colin T. Livdahl, Stephen B. DeLong, J. William Lund, Jonathan M. Nelson, Erin N. Coenen, Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, Matthew J. Kocian
Using acoustic Doppler velocity meters to estimate suspended sediment along the lower Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers
Lake Pepin is the largest naturally formed lake on the Mississippi River and has complex management needs to satisfy economic, environmental, and cultural demands. Lake Pepin is filling in with sediment at a rapid rate compared to conditions before settlement by European immigrants and intense agricultural cultivation. Accordingly, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has developed...
Authors
Joel T. Groten, Jeffrey R. Ziegeweid, J. William Lund, Christopher A. Ellison, Samuel B. Costa, Erin N. Coenen, Erich W. Kessler
Sediment oxygen demand: A review of in situ methods
Sediment oxygen demand (SOD) plays a fundamental role in biological and chemical processes within the benthic layer of a water body. Land use, including agricultural land use, can affect SOD. However, a wide variety of approaches have been used for in situ SOD chamber construction and data collection, and modelers frequently use SOD values from the literature, without consideration of...
Authors
Erin N. Coenen, Victoria G. Christensen, Lynn Bartsch, Rebecca Kreiling, William B. Richardson