Hydrologist
USGS Utah Water Science Center
Bio:
Casey Root is a hydrologist with the USGS Utah Water Science Center in Salt Lake City. Casey joined the USGS in 2016 and has worked on large-scale geospatial studies across Utah. In addition to recent work in developing an updated topobathymetric model of Great Salt Lake, Casey has been involved with Upper Colorado investigations such as sediment transport modeling and storage capacity in Lake Powell to better understand the impact of sedimentation on water resources. Casey received his BS from the University of Utah and MS from Cornell University.
Title: Developing a New Topographic Baseline for Great Salt Lake: Newly Assimilated Topobathymetric Dataset Incorporates New and Old Data to Calculate Elevation-Area-Volume Relationships
Abstract: Great Salt Lake levels have declined since European settlement in the Salt Lake Valley during the 19th century and increasing consideration has been given to its resiliency amid prolonged drought in the western United States. Quantification of lake volume and areal extent is becoming increasingly important for management. Previous estimates of volume and area were informally available but had not been rigorously investigated since the early 2000s. Bathymetric surveys published in 2005 and 2006 by the U.S. Geological Survey used best-available practices to map the bottom of Great Salt Lake and develop volume and area estimates at half-foot intervals. However, advances in geographic information systems and geospatial modeling provide an opportunity to develop and incorporate newer, higher resolution topographic data.
A newly developed topobathymetric dataset of Great Salt Lake provides updated estimates of volume and area at elevation increments of 0.01-feet between 4,170.00–4,215.00 ft above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988. This comprehensive dataset incorporates topographic lidar acquired by the state of Utah in 2016 with the 2005-2006 bathymetry which had originally been published as contour maps. The bathymetric contour maps were interpolated into a digital elevation model that is readable by geographic information systems and “stitched” together with the newer lidar data. Because the water elevation of Great Salt Lake has declined since 2005, regions of the bathymetric and lidar datasets overlap and provide a reasonable estimate of error. These data are currently available on ScienceBase, the primary repository for data by the U.S. Geological Survey, and will be incorporated into the Great Salt Lake Hydro Mapper.