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The Town of Hay River experiences significant threats to life and property each spring as ice jam release events from upstream bring waves of ice and water to the town. The development of a forecasting tool for ice jam release events has been limited by insufficient data, especially regarding the speed of ice runs associated with ice jam release events. The purpose of this research was to document and analyze ice jam release events to provide the town warning of their potential timing and magnitude, and to contribute to general knowledge on ice jam release. Comprehensive field programs were undertaken from 2007 to 2009, and this new data was used to assess the River1D ice jam release forecasting model. Although the model showed reasonable approximations for wave arrival times for flood forecasting purposes, the predicted speeds and arrival times of ice runs did not agree very well with field observations. / Water Resources Engineering

Ice jams have caused serious hazards such as floods in northern countries. Despite several studies focused on river ice jams, a lack of research has been identified in the existing literature to analyze impacts of an ice jam on turbulent flow characteristics. Thus, this research attempts to address this knowledge gap. A better comprehension of flow features beneath an ice jam will help river ice engineers to reduce economic, environmental, and ecological damages. Technical difficulties and safety concerns limit data collection in ice jam field studies. Therefore, a physical model of a river ice jam was constructed in the Hydraulics Research & Testing Facility at the University of Manitoba. Two scenarios were proposed to simulate an ice jam. The first scenario was to use a basic model with constant upstream and downstream water depth. The second scenario was developed as an extension of the first scenario, with a modified setup to allow the upstream water depth to be greater than the downstream water depth. This was done to increase similarity with the real ice jam in nature and improve the results. For the second scenario, different roughness ratios of channel bed to ice jam were defined. Experiments were conducted to quantify the turbulent flow characteristics including streamwise velocity and streamwise turbulence intensity distribution beneath the ice jam. The flow velocities were measured at different locations beneath the ice jam using an acoustic Doppler velocimeter. The turbulence intensities and bed shear stresses were calculated using the measured velocities. The results indicated that the flow velocity and turbulence intensity were a function of the streamwise location beneath the ice jam as well as the roughness of the bed and ice jam. Significant changes were observed in the velocity and turbulence intensity profiles where the boundaries were fully rough, which could influence an ice jam formation, sediment concentration and water quality, as well as river bed deformation. It is believed that the results from this research will improve our fundamental understanding of flow beneath an ice jam, and can be used for validation of subsequent ice jam numerical models. / October 2016

River ice breakup and associated flooding are realities for many northern communities. This is certainly the case in Hay River, NWT, which is located at the junction of the Hay River and Great Slave Lake. Hay River experiences a wide range of spring river ice scenarios; from docile thermal melt outs, to severe ice jams resulting in life-threatening, disastrous flooding. This study involved the analysis of five seasons of aerial and time-lapse photographs, water level measurements and hydrometeorologic data. This work also compiled an extended historical record of breakup in the Hay River delta, which was compared against the field data gathered for this study; combining local, experiential knowledge with scientific observation into a cohesive description of breakup. This will be used to advise the non-technical flood watch community on the patterns of timing and sequencing of breakup, which is critical for evacuation planning. / Water Resources Engineering

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.