Developing a national stream morphology data exchange: Needs, challenges, and opportunities

Abstract

Stream morphology data, primarily consisting of channel and foodplain geometry and bed material size measurements, historically have had a wide range of applications and uses including culvert/ bridge design, rainfall‐ runoff modeling, food inundation mapping (e.g., U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency food insurance studies), climate change studies, channel stability/sediment source investigations, navigation studies, habitat assessments, and landscape change research. The need for stream morphology data in the United States, and thus the quantity of data collected, has grown substantially over the past 2 decades because of the expanded interests of resource management agencies in watershed management and restoration. The quantity of stream morphology data collected has also increased because of state‐of‐the‐art technologies capable of rapidly collecting high‐resolution data over large areas with heretofore unprecedented precision. Despite increasing needs for and the expanding quantity of stream morphology data, neither common reporting standards nor a central data archive exist for storing and serving these often large and spatially complex data sets. We are proposing an open‐ access data exchange for archiving and disseminating stream morphology data.