USGS scientists Robin Beebee (left) and Jeff Conaway use a boat-mounted multibeam echosounder to map river bathymetry around bridge piers in the Copper River Delta of Alaska. The bathymetric mapping is part of a streambed scour study conducted in cooperation with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
Taylor Dudunake
Taylor Dudunake is a hydrologist with the USGS Idaho Water Science Center in Boise, Idaho.
Taylor is involved in a variety of field-based studies of surface water and groundwater throughout Idaho and the conterminous United States. Taylor began his career in the Idaho Water Science Center as a student contractor assisting in a national bridge scour study funded by the Federal Highway Administration. Shortly after, he continued his career as a Pathways Career intern prior to his conversion to a Hydrologist. He now works on various projects using GNSS surveying techniques; high-resolution bathymetric and acoustic Doppler surveys; two-dimensional hydraulic modeling; bridge scour surveys; groundwater and surface water interactions; and river restoration monitoring.
Science and Products
Real-Time Pier Scour Monitoring and Evaluation
The most common cause of bridge failure is scour, when high-velocity streamflow scours streambed material from around bridge piers and abutments. As of 2017, the National Bridge Inventory listed 265 of Idaho's nearly 4,500 bridges (about 6 percent) as "scour critical." When rivers rise quickly, bridge inspectors have little or no time to mobilize and monitor bridges at risk of scour. Real-time...
Evaluating Spatial and Temporal Fine-Scale Movement of Kootenai River White Sturgeon
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has published a plan for recovering the endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon. This study supports the objectives of that plan by quantifying white sturgeon habitat preference within a recently restored reach of the Kootenai River. Fine-scale acoustic telemetry positioning data will be integrated with quasi-three-dimensional hydraulic model simulations for the...
Bathymetric Mapping of the Kootenai River
The Kootenai River white sturgeon ( Acipenser transmontanus ) and other native fish species are culturally important to the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, but their habitat and recruitment have been affected by anthropogenic changes to the river. The Tribe has undertaken a large-scale restoration project and needs objective information on which to base restoration decisions.
Estimating Spring Discharge to the Snake River, Milner Dam to King Hill, Southern Idaho
Groundwater discharges to the Snake River from numerous volcanic rock springs along the northern canyon wall between Milner Dam and King Hill. Water-resource managers need to be able to quantify the amount of this water to understand the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer's recharge, storage, and discharge. When completed, this study will provide the Idaho Department of Water Resources with an...
Developing CE-QUAL-W2 Models of the Kootenai River and Koocanusa Reservoir, Montana and Idaho
The construction and operation of Libby Dam, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) project located in northwestern Montana, has altered the natural hydrograph, thermal regime, sediment transport, and nutrient loadings on the Kootenai River. Dam operation impacts riverine ecosystem function and many fish species, including the federally endangered Kootenai River White Sturgeon and federally...
Bathymetric Survey of the Mores Creek Arm of Lucky Peak Lake
In 2004, about 90 migrating elk and 25 mule deer broke through thin ice and drowned as they attempted to cross the Mores Creek arm of Lucky Peak Lake upstream of the Highway 21 bridge. To prevent any similar incidents, reservoir managers and wildlife biologists needed a better understanding of water depths over a range of reservoir pool elevations.
American Falls Reservoir Bathymetry
In cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, we surveyed the bathymetry within an area of about 500 acres of American Falls Reservoir between River Miles 713 and 714 August 6-8, 2019. The bathymetric survey provided high-resolution detail of a proposed treatment area for an aeration system that is being developed to support water quality during the American Falls spillway concrete repair project...
Streamflow Evaluation for Wild and Scenic Rivers, Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness
Several river segments in the Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness have been designated as “Wild and Scenic” under the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009. This designation is intended to protect the “outstanding remarkable values” (ORVs) in this area—specifically fish and wildlife habitat, scenic and geological features, and recreational opportunities. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is...
Lower Granite Reservoir Bed Sediment Coring and Analysis
Some groups are concerned that dredging the reservoir and the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers to remove excess sediment may mobilize contaminants in sediment that could negatively affect endangered species such as steelhead and salmon.
Mapping river bathymetry in the Copper River Delta, Alaska
USGS scientists Robin Beebee (left) and Jeff Conaway use a boat-mounted multibeam echosounder to map river bathymetry around bridge piers in the Copper River Delta of Alaska. The bathymetric mapping is part of a streambed scour study conducted in cooperation with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
Collecting periphyton samples, Boise River, Idaho
Hydrologist Lauren Zinsser collects a periphyton sample from the lower Boise River in southwestern Idaho
Hydrologist Lauren Zinsser collects a periphyton sample from the lower Boise River in southwestern Idaho
Science and Products
Real-Time Pier Scour Monitoring and Evaluation
The most common cause of bridge failure is scour, when high-velocity streamflow scours streambed material from around bridge piers and abutments. As of 2017, the National Bridge Inventory listed 265 of Idaho's nearly 4,500 bridges (about 6 percent) as "scour critical." When rivers rise quickly, bridge inspectors have little or no time to mobilize and monitor bridges at risk of scour. Real-time...
Evaluating Spatial and Temporal Fine-Scale Movement of Kootenai River White Sturgeon
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has published a plan for recovering the endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon. This study supports the objectives of that plan by quantifying white sturgeon habitat preference within a recently restored reach of the Kootenai River. Fine-scale acoustic telemetry positioning data will be integrated with quasi-three-dimensional hydraulic model simulations for the...
Bathymetric Mapping of the Kootenai River
The Kootenai River white sturgeon ( Acipenser transmontanus ) and other native fish species are culturally important to the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, but their habitat and recruitment have been affected by anthropogenic changes to the river. The Tribe has undertaken a large-scale restoration project and needs objective information on which to base restoration decisions.
Estimating Spring Discharge to the Snake River, Milner Dam to King Hill, Southern Idaho
Groundwater discharges to the Snake River from numerous volcanic rock springs along the northern canyon wall between Milner Dam and King Hill. Water-resource managers need to be able to quantify the amount of this water to understand the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer's recharge, storage, and discharge. When completed, this study will provide the Idaho Department of Water Resources with an...
Developing CE-QUAL-W2 Models of the Kootenai River and Koocanusa Reservoir, Montana and Idaho
The construction and operation of Libby Dam, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) project located in northwestern Montana, has altered the natural hydrograph, thermal regime, sediment transport, and nutrient loadings on the Kootenai River. Dam operation impacts riverine ecosystem function and many fish species, including the federally endangered Kootenai River White Sturgeon and federally...
Bathymetric Survey of the Mores Creek Arm of Lucky Peak Lake
In 2004, about 90 migrating elk and 25 mule deer broke through thin ice and drowned as they attempted to cross the Mores Creek arm of Lucky Peak Lake upstream of the Highway 21 bridge. To prevent any similar incidents, reservoir managers and wildlife biologists needed a better understanding of water depths over a range of reservoir pool elevations.
American Falls Reservoir Bathymetry
In cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, we surveyed the bathymetry within an area of about 500 acres of American Falls Reservoir between River Miles 713 and 714 August 6-8, 2019. The bathymetric survey provided high-resolution detail of a proposed treatment area for an aeration system that is being developed to support water quality during the American Falls spillway concrete repair project...
Streamflow Evaluation for Wild and Scenic Rivers, Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness
Several river segments in the Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness have been designated as “Wild and Scenic” under the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009. This designation is intended to protect the “outstanding remarkable values” (ORVs) in this area—specifically fish and wildlife habitat, scenic and geological features, and recreational opportunities. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is...
Lower Granite Reservoir Bed Sediment Coring and Analysis
Some groups are concerned that dredging the reservoir and the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers to remove excess sediment may mobilize contaminants in sediment that could negatively affect endangered species such as steelhead and salmon.
Mapping river bathymetry in the Copper River Delta, Alaska
USGS scientists Robin Beebee (left) and Jeff Conaway use a boat-mounted multibeam echosounder to map river bathymetry around bridge piers in the Copper River Delta of Alaska. The bathymetric mapping is part of a streambed scour study conducted in cooperation with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
USGS scientists Robin Beebee (left) and Jeff Conaway use a boat-mounted multibeam echosounder to map river bathymetry around bridge piers in the Copper River Delta of Alaska. The bathymetric mapping is part of a streambed scour study conducted in cooperation with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
Collecting periphyton samples, Boise River, Idaho
Hydrologist Lauren Zinsser collects a periphyton sample from the lower Boise River in southwestern Idaho
Hydrologist Lauren Zinsser collects a periphyton sample from the lower Boise River in southwestern Idaho
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government