Paul Kinzel is a Hydrologist with the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
Education
M.S. in Civil Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, May 1998
B.S. in Environmental Science, State University of New York, Plattsburgh, May 1995
Science and Products
Clear Creek Reservoir Bathymetry
Remotely sensed data from a reach of the Sacramento River near Glenn, California, used to perform Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) within the Robot Operating System (ROS)
Hydrodynamic model output and image simulation code for evaluating image-based river velocimetry from a case study on the Sacramento River near Glenn, California
Bathymetric and topographic surveys of the Upper Colorado River, May 13, 2021, to July 26, 2023
Cross-section geometry and sediment-size distribution data from the Upper Colorado River, April 6-8, 2022
Model Archive: Simulation of Sediment Transport, Middle Channel of St. Clair River Delta, Michigan
Hydrographic surveys and acoustic Doppler current profiler measurements collected to monitor fish spawning reef placements, Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, Michigan, September 13-16, 2021 and May 2-5, 2022
Grain-size distributions of bed material samples collected from the Middle Channel of the St. Clair River Delta, Michigan, November 10, 2021
Digital orthophotos and field measurements of flow velocity from the Tanana and Nenana Rivers, Alaska, from August 2021
Topographic LiDAR surveys of rivers in Alaska, July 24-26, 2019
Aerial images, digital elevation models, channel width maps, and river metrics along the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park, Utah (1940 - 2018)
Helicopter-based videos and field measurements of flow depth and velocity from the Tanana River, Alaska, acquired on July 24, 2019
Data from a flume investigation using Fiber Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (FO-DTS), U.S. Geological Survey Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, fall 2019
Bathymetry of Clear Creek Reservoir, Chaffee County, Colorado, 2016
To better characterize the water supply capacity of Clear Creek Reservoir, Chaffee County, Colorado, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Pueblo Board of Water Works and Colorado Mountain College, carried out a bathymetry survey of Clear Creek Reservoir. A bathymetry map of the reservoir is presented here with the elevation-surface area and the elevation-volume relations. The bathym
Bathymetry of the Hong and Luoc River Junction, Red River Delta, Vietnam, 2010
The Toolbox for River Velocimetry using Images from Aircraft (TRiVIA)
Moving Aircraft River Velocimetry (MARV): Framework and proof-of-concept on the Tanana River
Repeat bathymetric surveys and model simulation of sedimentation processes near fish spawning placements, Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, Michigan
Depths inferred from velocities estimated by remote sensing: A flow resistance equation-based approach to mapping multiple river attributes at the reach scale
Surface flow velocities from space: Particle image velocimetry of satellite video of a large, sediment-laden river
Improving remotely sensed river bathymetry by image-averaging
Field evaluation of a compact, polarizing topo‐bathymetric lidar across a range of river conditions
Inferring surface flow velocities in sediment-laden Alaskan rivers from optical image sequences acquired from a helicopter
Remote sensing of tracer dye concentrations to support dispersion studies in river channels
sUAS-based remote sensing of river discharge using thermal particle image velocimetry and bathymetric lidar
Near-field remote sensing of Alaskan Rivers
Remote sensing of river flow in Alaska—New technology to improve safety and expand coverage of USGS streamgaging
Science and Products
- Science
Clear Creek Reservoir Bathymetry
To better characterize the water supply capacity of Clear Creek Reservoir, Chaffee County, Colorado, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Pueblo Board of Water Works and Colorado Mountain College, carried out a bathymetry survey of Clear Creek Reservoir. The equipment and methods used in this study allowed water-resource managers to maintain typical reservoir operations, eliminating... - Data
Filter Total Items: 36
Remotely sensed data from a reach of the Sacramento River near Glenn, California, used to perform Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) within the Robot Operating System (ROS)
This data release provides an example data set to accompany the manuscript titled "A Robot Operating System (ROS) package for mapping flow fields in rivers via Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)", submitted to the journal Software X. This ROS *.bag file contains remotely sensed data acquired during an Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) flight along a reach of the Sacramento River near Glenn, California,Hydrodynamic model output and image simulation code for evaluating image-based river velocimetry from a case study on the Sacramento River near Glenn, California
This data release includes the data and code used for the manuscript titled "A framework to facilitate development and testing of image-based river velocimetry algorithms", submitted to the journal Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. Three *.csv files and five *.m files with MATLAB source code are included below. Each *.csv file contains output from a hydrodynamic model of a reach of the SacramBathymetric and topographic surveys of the Upper Colorado River, May 13, 2021, to July 26, 2023
Bathymetric and topographic surveys were collected along an approximately 47-kilometer reach of the Colorado River beginning at the Pumphouse Recreation site and extending downstream to the USGS streamgage located near the Colorado River Road (Catamount) bridge. The surveys were collected using real-time kinematic Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers by USGS personnel during severalCross-section geometry and sediment-size distribution data from the Upper Colorado River, April 6-8, 2022
The U.S. Geological Survey collected geomorphic monitoring data in cooperation with the Upper Colorado River Wild and Scenic Stakeholder Group. This data release contains cross-section geometry and sediment-size distribution data collected from five sites on the Upper Colorado River, Colorado during April 6-8, 2022. The five sites selected for monitoring were located at the Pumphouse Recreation ArModel Archive: Simulation of Sediment Transport, Middle Channel of St. Clair River Delta, Michigan
This archive contains results of flow and sediment transport simulations of a reach of the Middle Channel of the St. Clair River delta, Michigan using the iRIC modeling system and the Flow and Sediment Transport with Morphologic Evolution of Channels (FASTMECH) solver. Two hydraulic model simulations were used to determine lateral eddy viscosity and roughness settings. A third simulation containsHydrographic surveys and acoustic Doppler current profiler measurements collected to monitor fish spawning reef placements, Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, Michigan, September 13-16, 2021 and May 2-5, 2022
The U.S Geological Survey conducted hydrographic surveys from September 13-16, 2021 and May 2-5, 2022 to monitor fish spawning substrate placements (reefs) in the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, Michigan. This work was conducted as part of a reimbursable agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to provide technical assistance in areas of concern. A multibeam echosounder was used from the GGrain-size distributions of bed material samples collected from the Middle Channel of the St. Clair River Delta, Michigan, November 10, 2021
The U.S. Geological Survey used a ponar sampler to collect bed material from the Middle Channel of the St. Clair River Delta on November 10, 2021. Three sediment samples were collected upstream of the artificial spawning reefs constructed in the Middle Channel and two on the reefs themselves.The bed sediment samples were dried and sieved at 1/2 phi increments to determine their grain-size distribuDigital orthophotos and field measurements of flow velocity from the Tanana and Nenana Rivers, Alaska, from August 2021
This data release includes digital orthophotos acquired from a fixed-wing aircraft and field measurements of flow velocity from the Tanana and Nenana Rivers near Nenana, Alaska, obtained on August 18 and 19, 2021. This parent data release includes links to child pages for two data sets produced during the study: 1. Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) field measurements of flow velocity fromTopographic LiDAR surveys of rivers in Alaska, July 24-26, 2019
The U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) collected topographic LiDAR surveys of four rivers in Alaska from July 24-26, 2019 to support research related to remote sensing of river discharge. Data were acquired for the Matanuska, Chena, Salcha, and Tanana Rivers using a Riegl VQ-580 LiDAR. The LiDAR wasAerial images, digital elevation models, channel width maps, and river metrics along the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park, Utah (1940 - 2018)
These data consist of rectified aerial photographs, measurements of active channel width, measurements of river and floodplain bathymetry and topography, and ancillary data. These data are specific to the corridor of the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park between Potash, Utah and the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers near Spanish Bottom, Utah. The time period for these data areHelicopter-based videos and field measurements of flow depth and velocity from the Tanana River, Alaska, acquired on July 24, 2019
This data release includes videos acquired from a helicopter and field measurements of flow depth and velocity from the Tanana River near Nenana, Alaska, obtained on July 24, 2019. This parent data release includes links to child pages for two data sets produced during the study: 1. Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) field measurements of flow depth and velocity from the Tanana River, AlasData from a flume investigation using Fiber Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (FO-DTS), U.S. Geological Survey Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, fall 2019
Evaluating technologies and approaches to identify the movement of fine sediment over coarser substrate has implications for monitoring the condition of habitat restoration sites. This goal motivated testing the efficacy of Fiber Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (FO-DTS) as a technique for detecting the migration of sand bedforms over coarser bed material. Experiments were conducted in a labo - Maps
Bathymetry of Clear Creek Reservoir, Chaffee County, Colorado, 2016
To better characterize the water supply capacity of Clear Creek Reservoir, Chaffee County, Colorado, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Pueblo Board of Water Works and Colorado Mountain College, carried out a bathymetry survey of Clear Creek Reservoir. A bathymetry map of the reservoir is presented here with the elevation-surface area and the elevation-volume relations. The bathym
Bathymetry of the Hong and Luoc River Junction, Red River Delta, Vietnam, 2010
The U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the Water Resources University in Hanoi, Vietnam, conducted a bathymetric survey of the junction of the Hong and Luoc Rivers. The survey was done to characterize the channel morphology of this delta distributary network and provide input for hydrodynamic and sediment transport models. The survey was carried out in December 2010 using a boat-mounted - Publications
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The Toolbox for River Velocimetry using Images from Aircraft (TRiVIA)
Accurate knowledge of the speed at which water moves along a river is essential for understanding ecohydraulic processes and managing natural resources. Measuring flow velocity via remote sensing can be more efficient than conventional field methods, and powerful computational techniques for inferring velocity fields from videos or image time series have been developed. The development of dedicateAuthorsCarl J. Legleiter, Paul J. KinzelMoving Aircraft River Velocimetry (MARV): Framework and proof-of-concept on the Tanana River
Information on velocity fields in rivers is critical for designing infrastructure, modeling contaminant transport, and assessing habitat. Although non-contact approaches to measuring flow velocity are well established, these methods assume a stationary imaging platform. This study eliminates this constraint by introducing a framework for moving aircraft river velocimetry (MARV). The workflow takesAuthorsCarl J. Legleiter, Paul J. Kinzel, Mark Laker, Jeff ConawayRepeat bathymetric surveys and model simulation of sedimentation processes near fish spawning placements, Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, Michigan
Nine rock-rubble fish spawning placements, or artificial reef complexes, constructed in the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers between 2004 to 2018 were surveyed periodically with multibeam sonar. These serial bathymetric surveys, conducted in 2015, 2018, 2021, and 2022, identified active sand bedform fields impinging two reef complexes: Fighting Island in the Detroit River and Middle Channel in theAuthorsPaul J. Kinzel, Gregory W. Kennedy, Taylor DudunakeDepths inferred from velocities estimated by remote sensing: A flow resistance equation-based approach to mapping multiple river attributes at the reach scale
Remote sensing of flow conditions in stream channels could facilitate hydrologic data collection, particularly in large, inaccessible rivers. Previous research has demonstrated the potential to estimate flow velocities in sediment-laden rivers via particle image velocimetry (PIV). In this study, we introduce a new framework for also obtaining bathymetric information: Depths Inferred from VelocitieAuthorsCarl J. Legleiter, Paul J. KinzelSurface flow velocities from space: Particle image velocimetry of satellite video of a large, sediment-laden river
Conventional, field-based streamflow monitoring in remote, inaccessible locations such as Alaska poses logistical challenges. Safety concerns, financial considerations, and a desire to expand water-observing networks make remote sensing an appealing alternative means of collecting hydrologic data. In an ongoing effort to develop non-contact methods for measuring river discharge, we evaluated the pAuthorsCarl J. Legleiter, Paul J. KinzelImproving remotely sensed river bathymetry by image-averaging
Basic data on river bathymetry is critical for numerous applications in river research and management and is increasingly obtained via remote sensing, but the noisy, pixelated appearance of image‐derived depth maps can compromise subsequent analyses. We hypothesized that this noise originates from reflectance from an irregular water surface and introduced a framework for mitigating these effects bAuthorsCarl J. Legleiter, Paul J. KinzelField evaluation of a compact, polarizing topo‐bathymetric lidar across a range of river conditions
This paper summarizes field trials to evaluate the performance of a prototype compact topo‐bathymetric lidar sensor for surveying rivers. The sensor uses a novel polarization technique to distinguish between laser returns from the water surface and streambed and its size and weight permit deployment from a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) or a boat. Field testing was designed to identify the raAuthorsPaul J. Kinzel, Carl J. Legleiter, Paul GramsInferring surface flow velocities in sediment-laden Alaskan rivers from optical image sequences acquired from a helicopter
The remote, inaccessible location of many rivers in Alaska creates a compelling need for remote sensing approaches to streamflow monitoring. Motivated by this objective, we evaluated the potential to infer flow velocities from optical image sequences acquired from a helicopter deployed above two large, sediment-laden rivers. Rather than artificial seeding, we used an ensemble correlation particleAuthorsCarl J. Legleiter, Paul J. KinzelRemote sensing of tracer dye concentrations to support dispersion studies in river channels
In river channels the flow field influences the dispersion of biota, contaminants, and other suspended or dissolved materials. Insight on patterns and rates of dispersion can be gained by injecting a pulse of visible dye and observing spatial and temporal variations in dye concentration as the pulse moves downstream. We evaluated the potential of passive optical remote sensing to enhance such tracAuthorsCarl J. Legleiter, Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson, Paul J. Kinzel, Ryan L. Perroy, Donghae Baek, Il Won SeosUAS-based remote sensing of river discharge using thermal particle image velocimetry and bathymetric lidar
This paper describes a non-contact methodology for computing river discharge based on data collected from small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS). The approach is complete in that both surface velocity and channel geometry are measured directly under field conditions. The technique does not require introducing artificial tracer particles for computing surface velocity, nor does it rely upon the presAuthorsPaul J. Kinzel, Carl J. LegleiterNear-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 a helicopter. CRREL operates a custom airborne lidAuthorsPaul J. Kinzel, Carl J. Legleiter, Jonathan M. Nelson, Jeff Conaway, Adam LeWinter, Peter Gadomski, Dominic FilianoRemote 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. Alaska has over 800,000 miles of rivers includingAuthorsJeff Conaway, John R. Eggleston, Carl J. Legleiter, John Jones, Paul J. Kinzel, John W. Fulton