River Ice Processes and Flooding: Filed Data Collection and Mathematical Modeling

Minnesota, as other states and countries in the Northern Hemisphere, has frequently experienced problems related to river ice. These problems include, among others, winter and spring flooding due to reduction of river transport capacity by ice, limitation on peaking hydropower plant output due to possibility of ice cover break up upstream and downstream, damages to bridge piers and erosion due to rapid movement of broken ice sheets, clogging of intakes by frazil, and complete shutdown of the navigation channel. This study emphasizes river ice processes and their relations to flooding. Over the years, the State of Minnesota has suffered from winter and spring flooding in the Red River of the North, the Mississippi River, the Minnesota River, and other smaller rivers. Declaration of Spring Flood Emergency by the President of the United States in 1979 and by the Governor of the State this year (1989) in the Red River of the North signifies the importance of this study.