Development of Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint hydrology and habitat model parameters through biophysical remote sensing

A multidisciplinary team composed of researchers from federal government and academia is linking state-of-the-art within-discipline approaches to more effectively model climate, hydrology, in-stream flow requirements, and aquatic population dynamics in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) river basin. As part of this effort, a multi- spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution remote sensing database is being developed and evaluated by the USGS to better understand and represent the spatial and temporal scales of various land cover changes and cycles in the ACF. The ultimate goal is to account for the affects of land use on hydrology and habitat and link those affects to the health of aquatic populations. Airborne true color and lidar and satellite radar data for subwatersheds of the ACF are being used to calibrate and evaluate Landsat-based maps of small water bodies and vegetation cover for use in stream flow and temperature modeling. Procedures are being developed and applied to archived Landsat data to yield dynamic information on the numbers, sizes, spatial configuration and combined area of coverage of ACF surface water bodies throughout the Thematic Mapper time frame (early-1980s to present). Also the USGS Precipitation Runoff Modeling System has been modified to accommodate these dynamic estimates of total storage capacity over hydrologic response units and is therefore yielding more applicable simulations of streamflow characteristics. This multi-scale characterization of landscape dynamics is helping to evaluate and forecast the importance of human activity to hydrology and aquatic habitat conditions.