Jeff Conaway
Surface-water modeling, sediment transport, acoustic Doppler current profilers
Biography
Education
M.S. 2000 Portland State University Geology
B.S. 1996 University of Alaska Fairbanks Geology
Professional Experience
2018 - Present Associate Center Director for Water, Ice, and Landscape Dynamics, USGS Alaska Science Center
2000 - 2018 Hydrologist, USGS Alaska Science Center
Honors and/or Awards
USGS award for outstanding scientific contributions to the Western Region
Science and Products
Improving Forecasts of Glacier Outburst Flood Events
Suicide Basin is a glacier-fed lake that branches off Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska. Since 2011, Suicide Basin has been collecting melt- and rainwater each summer, creating a temporary glacier-dammed lake. Water that accumulates typically gets released through channels that run beneath the glacier. These channels are normally blocked by ice, but if the water pressure gets too high the...
Chilkat River
Chilkat River is one of the transboundary watersheds of Southeast Alaska.
Alsek River
Alsek River is one of the transboundary watersheds of Southeast Alaska.
Unuk River Super Gage
Unuk River is one of the transboundary watersheds of Southeast Alaska.
Stikine River
Stikine River is one of the transboundary watersheds of Southeast Alaska.
Taku River
Taku River is one of the transboundary watersheds of Southeast Alaska.
Salmon River
Salmon River is one of the transboundary watersheds of Southeast Alaska.
USGS Transboundary River Monitoring in Southeast Alaska
The quantity and quality of streamflow in transboundary watersheds of Southeast Alaska are important to many stakeholders. Development and operation of several mines in Canada have increased the interest in current and future conditions in these watersheds. The USGS Alaska Science Center operates streamflow information stations on the Alsek, Chilkat, Taku, Stikine, and Unuk Rivers. Real-time...
Alaska Streamflow Statistics
The USGS conducts various studies of streamflow statistics for data collected at streamflow-gaging stations. Streamflow statistics for gaged streams and methods for estimating those statistics for ungaged streams are used by water resource planners and managers for designing infrastructure, managing floodplains, and protecting life, property, and aquatic resources. The most recent USGS studies...
NAWQA Cook Inlet Basin Study Unit
The Cook Inlet Basin (COOK) study unit in southcentral Alaska, is part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The long-term goals of this program are to describe the status and trends in the quality of a large, representative part of the Nation's surface- and ground-water resources, and to provide a sound, scientific understanding of the primary...
COOK NAWQA Data Clearinghouse
This page will serve as the repository for data collected by the Cook Inlet Basin NAWQA team using NAWQA sampling protocols. Data sets collected using NAWQA protocols but not collected as part of the Cook Inlet Basin NAWQA program are identified with an asterisk (*). A list of ...
Water Resources for Alaska GIS datasets Regional Coverages
Legacy Data for Water Resources for Alaska GIS datasets Regional Coverages
Deglacierization of a marginal basin and implications for outburst floods, Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska
Suicide Basin is a partly glacierized marginal basin of Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska, that has released glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) annually since 2011. The floods cause inundation and erosion in the Mendenhall Valley, impacting homes and other infrastructure. Here, we utilize in-situ and remote sensing data to assess the recent...
Kienholz, Christian; Pierce, Jamie; Hood, Eran; Amundson, Jason M.; Wolken, Gabriel; Jacobs, Aaron; Hart, Skye; Wikstrom-Jones, Katreen; Abdel-Fattah, Dina; Johnson, Crane; Conaway, Jeffrey S. Near-field remote sensing of Alaskan Rivers
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory (GSTL), in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), acquired remotely sensed data from several Alaskan rivers in 2017 and 2018 with the goal of developing a methodology for measuring streamflow from...
Kinzel, Paul J.; Legleiter, Carl J.; Nelson, Jonathan M.; Conaway, Jeff; LeWinter, Adam; Gadomski, Peter; Filiano, Dominic
Remote sensing of river flow in Alaska—New technology to improve safety and expand coverage of USGS streamgaging
The U.S. Geological Survey monitors water level (water surface elevation relative to an arbitrary datum) and measures streamflow in Alaska rivers to compute and compile river flow records for use by water resource planners, engineers, and land managers to design infrastructure, manage floodplains, and protect life, property, and aquatic resources...
Conaway, Jeff; Eggleston, John R.; Legleiter, Carl J.; Jones, John W.; Kinzel, Paul J.; Fulton, John W.
Measurement of long-term channel change through repeated cross-section surveys at bridge crossings in Alaska
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been working with Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) since 1993 to provide hydraulic assessments of scour for bridges throughout Alaska. The purpose of the program is to evaluate, monitor, and study streambed scour at bridges in Alaska; this includes surveying streambed...
Dworsky, Karenth L.; Conaway, Jeffrey S. Using remotely sensed data to estimate river characteristics including water-surface velocity and discharge
This paper describes a project combining field studies and analyses directed at providing an assessment of the accuracy of remotely sensed methods for determining river characteristics such as velocity and discharge. In particular, we describe a remote sensing method for surface velocities using mid-wave thermal camera videography combined with...
Nelson, Jonathan M.; Kinzel, Paul J.; Legleiter, Carl J.; McDonald, Richard R.; Overstreet, Brandon; Conaway, Jeffrey S. Remote measurement of surface-water velocity using infrared videography and PIV: a proof-of-concept for Alaskan rivers
Thermal cameras with high sensitivity to medium and long wavelengths can resolve features at the surface of flowing water arising from turbulent mixing. Images acquired by these cameras can be processed with particle image velocimetry (PIV) to compute surface velocities based on the displacement of thermal features as they advect with the flow....
Kinzel, Paul J.; Legleiter, Carl J.; Nelson, Jonathan M.; Conaway, Jeffrey S.
Evaluation of streambed scour at bridges over tidal waterways in Alaska
The potential for streambed scour was evaluated at 41 bridges that cross tidal waterways in Alaska. These bridges are subject to several coastal and riverine processes that have the potential, individually or in combination, to induce streambed scour or to damage the structure or adjacent channel. The proximity of a bridge to the ocean and water-...
Conaway, Jeffrey S.; Schauer, Paul V. Oceanographic gradients and seabird prey community dynamics in glacial fjords
Glacial fjord habitats are undergoing rapid change as a result of contemporary global warming, yet little is known about how glaciers influence marine ecosystems. These ecosystems provide important feeding, breeding and rearing grounds for a wide variety of marine organisms, including seabirds of management concern. To characterize ocean...
Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Piatt, John F.; Madison, Erica N.; Conaway, Jeffrey S.; Hillgruber, N.
Streamflow and streambed scour in 2010 at bridge 339, Copper River, Alaska
The Copper River Highway traverses a dynamic and complex network of braided and readily erodible channels that constitute the Copper River Delta, Alaska, by way of 11 bridges. Over the past decade, several of these bridges and the highway have sustained serious damage from both high and low flows and channel instability. This investigation...
Conaway, Jeffrey S.; Brabets, Timothy P.
Kittlitz’s and Marbled Murrelets in Kenai Fjords National Park, south-central Alaska: At-sea distribution, abundance, and foraging habitat, 2006–08
Kittlitz’s murrelets (Brachyramphus brevirostris) and marbled murrelets (B. marmoratus) are small diving seabirds and are of management concern because of population declines in coastal Alaska. In 2006–08, we conducted a study in Kenai Fjords National Park, south-central Alaska, to estimate the recent population size of Brachyramphus ...
Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Piatt, John F.; Romano, Marc D.; Madison, E.N.; Conaway, Jeffrey S.
Geomorphology and river dynamics of the lower Copper River, Alaska
Located in south-central Alaska, the Copper River drains an area of more than 24,000 square miles. The average annual flow of the river near its mouth is 63,600 cubic feet per second, but is highly variable between winter and summer. In the winter, flow averages approximately 11,700 cubic feet per second, and in the summer, due to snowmelt,...
Brabets, Timothy P.; Conaway, Jeffrey S.
Application of the multi-dimensional surface water modeling system at Bridge 339, Copper River Highway, Alaska
The Copper River Basin, the sixth largest watershed in Alaska, drains an area of 24,200 square miles. This large, glacier-fed river flows across a wide alluvial fan before it enters the Gulf of Alaska. Bridges along the Copper River Highway, which traverses the alluvial fan, have been impacted by channel migration. Due to a major channel change in...
Brabets, Timothy P.; Conaway, Jeffrey S.
Scientists Quantify Export Of Mercury From The Yukon River
Thawing permafrost in the Yukon River watershed may be a source of naturally occurring mercury being conveyed by rivers into the environment, according to USGS research scientists.