Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The four members of our Water Resources Engineering group who specialize in hydraulics, all work in surface water (river and lake) engineering. Dr. Hicks studies river ice, Drs. Zhu and Loewen both specialize in environmental fluid mechanics, and Dr. Steffler specializes in computational modeling, with a particular focus on eco-hydraulics.  All members of the group work collaboratively, combining their respective skills in field, lab, and numerical research.  A common thread in many of these collaborations (and the mainstream focus of Dr. Hicks's research in particular) is field experiments.  Some of these field studies are fundamental in nature, such as Dr. Hicks's investigations of the physics of river ice jam formation and release (Athabasca and Hay Rivers), and Drs. Hicks's and Loewen's investigations of the Shallow Water Ice Profiler for measuring frazil ice concentrations (Athabasca River).  Others are applied research, such as Drs. Hicks's and Steffler's study of the effects of climate change and industrial water use on winter water supply and physical fish habitat (Lower Athabasca River), and Dr. Zhu's study of the effects of pulp mill effluents on river water quality (Athabasca River near Athabasca).  We have many instruments which we use to measure rivers, including sophisticated acoustic depth sounders and velocity sensors, as well as surveying equipment such as Global Positioning Systems and Lidar to measure detailed channel geometry.  We also operate sophisticated remote monitoring stations employing radar, lasers, cameras and weather sensors.  All instruments require one essential piece of equipment to deploy - a boat.  However, our 30+ year old dingy is just too small to handle all the modern, sophisticated (and heavy) gear.  It is also underpowered to access remote sites on big rivers, such as the Athabasca.  The motor (brand new in 2001) is breaking down repeatedly and, even with recent servicing, died on the Lower Athabasca stranding our field team 20 km from Fort McMurray in Oct 2007.  We urgently need a new, larger, river survey boat to do our studies effectively and safely.