This readme file was generated on 2017-10-12 by Ajay B. Limaye

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GENERAL INFORMATION
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1. Title of Dataset 
Topography and flow model files for the Platte River, Nebraska, 2016-2017

2. Author Information
Name: Limaye, Ajay B.
Institution: University of Minnesota
Address: St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, 2 3rd Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55414
Email: aslimaye@umn.edu

3. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date) <suggested format YYYYMMDD>
Approximately 2016-06-01 to 2017-05-31

4. Geographic location of data collection (where was data collected?): 
Platte River, Nebraska, United States (near 40.67º N, 99.08º W)

5. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data:
This work was supported by the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics 2 and the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory Industrial Consortium. The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources collected the original topography data. 


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SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION
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1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data:
Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC 3.0 US)

2. Links to publications that cite or use the data:
Limaye, Ajay B., 2017, Extraction of multithread channel networks with a reduced-complexity flow model, Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, doi:10.1002/2016JF004175.

3. Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data:

The flow model files were generated using  CAESAR-Lisflood 1.9b by Tom Coulthard, which was downloaded from https://sourceforge.net/projects/caesar-lisflood/  This program is included with the submission (in flow_model_files -> input_files -> CAESAR-LISFLOOD). It is available for redistribution and use according to the GNU General Public License version 3.0 (GPLv3), with more information available in the subfolder and at https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html


The original topography data was downloaded from the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources at https://dnr.nebraska.gov/data/2009-south-central-nebraska-information

4. Links/relationships to ancillary data sets:
None 

5. Was data derived from another source?
           If yes, list source(s):

The original topography data was downloaded from the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources.

The flow model files were generated using CAESAR-LISFLOOD 1.9b by Tom Coulthard.

6. Recommended citation for the data:
Limaye, Ajay B. (2017) Topography and flow model files for the Platte River, Nebraska, 2016-2017. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, http://hdl.handle.net/:69291.

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DATA & FILE OVERVIEW
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1. File List
   A. platte_topography_flow_model_files.zip
   Short description: This zip archive contains files organized into separate folders for topography pre-processing and flow modeling.


2. Relationship between files:        
Not applicable


3. Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package:
None



4. Are there multiple versions of the dataset? yes/no
No
  
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METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION
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1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: 
The original topography data included the following notes, which were accessed on October 10, 2017, at https://dnr.nebraska.gov/data/2009-south-central-nebraska-information

"LIDAR has been collected for South-Central Nebraska. The project is a collaboration of several partners to obtain 0.7m Ground Sample Distance (GSD) LIDAR for a portion of the Platte River and 1.4m GSD LIDAR for the rest of the study area.

Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, DNR, USGS, Central Platte NRD, Tri-Basin NRD, Lower Republican NRD, Little Blue NRD, Upper Big Blue NRD, Kansas GIS Policy Board, USDA-NRCS Kansas and USDA-NRCS Nebraska worked together and provided funding to make this happen. Significant funding was provided by Nebraska Environmental Trust, Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Conservation Innovation Grant, and Interrelated Water Management Plan Program Fund. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission made in-kind contributions in the LIDAR of personnel time.

Vertical accuracy was specified to meet a standard of RMSE=18.5cm (Accuracyz=0.36m at 95% confidence level) for the 1.4m GSD area. The vertical accuracy for the 0.7m GSD area was specified to meet a standard of 9.2 cm RMSE (Accuracyz = 0.18m at the 95% confidence level). Points were to be classified in the following classes:

Class 1- Unclassified
Class 2- Ground
Class 7- Low point and noise
Class 9- water
Class 12- overlap
It was collected in leaf-off conditions.

Eventually the LAS format point cloud data will be made available on USGS’s Center for LIDAR Information Coordination and Knowledge (CLICK) website, but meanwhile it can be obtained from DNR. LAS, 1m DEMs and 2m DEMs are available for the main South-Central Nebraska area; the 2m DEMs are available below for download. Only LAS is available for the 0.7m GSD Platte River area."

2. Methods for processing the data: 

The topography data were processed to remove artifacts and convert the data for input to the flow model CAESAR-LISFLOOD. Artifacts in the raw DEM appear as facets with extremely low curvature unrealistic for natural topography in fluvial landscapes. A curvature threshold (curvature < 2.5 × 10^-5 m^-1) identifies these facets, and objects in this image mask are merged using image filtering and binary image morphologic operations. Elevation values for pixels in the mask are replaced using the minimum elevation in a local neighborhood that excludes masked pixels. This procedure smoothes the topography in areas affected by artifacts. To balance model run time with the ability to resolve major bar and channel structure, the DEM grid spacing was then downsampled from 2 m to 10 m. Finally, synthetic walls were added to the top and bottom edges of the DEM, and a reservoir was added to the left side. The MATLAB scripts for this processing are included here. 

The flow model files were generated using CAESAR-LISFLOOD in Reach Mode. Further information is available in the publication listed in section 2 of SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION.

3. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data:
The scripts with the extension .m run in MATLAB and were last used with version R2015b. The flow model CAESAR-LISFOOD runs in Windows.

4. Standards and calibration information, if appropriate:
Not applicable

5. Environmental/experimental conditions:
Not applicable

6. Describe any quality-assurance procedures performed on the data:
The file platte.dat included in the zip archive records time-series data from the model run.

7. People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission:
Ajay B. Limaye, University of Minnesota


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DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: platte_topography_flow_model_files.zip
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The data is organized within a zip archive.  The files are organized into separate folders for topography pre-processing and flow modeling. 

The folder 'topography_files' contains digital elevation model (DEM) data and MATLAB files for data processing, including:
-platte_dem_original.tif: The original DEM, which was generated by mosaicking and cropping 2-meter DEM tiles available from the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (2009 South Central Nebraska- UTM) in ArcGIS 10.0. (More information: https://dnr.nebraska.gov/sites/dnr.nebraska.gov/files/doc/data/elevation/2009-utm.html)
-dem_edit_export.m: A MATLAB script for editing the original DEM and exporting it in a format readable by the flow model CAESAR-LISFLOOD. See file header for full description.
-my_minfilt.m:  A MATLAB function called by dem_edit_export.m. This function calculates minimum elevation in a moving window. See file header for full description.
-arcgridwrite_modified.m: A MATLAB function written by Andrew Stevens for exporting MATLAB arrays in Arc GRID format. The file was slightly modified from the original version so that the header of the output file can be read in CAESAR-LISFLOOD. This file is called by dem_edit_export.m and was downloaded from the MATLAB File Exchange at https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/16176-arcgridwrite

The folder 'flow_model_files' includes two subfolders for input and output files, respectively. For further description of CAESAR-LISFLOOD, including file contents, unit conventions, file input/output, and operating procedures, see https://sourceforge.net/projects/caesar-lisflood/

-The subfolder 'input_files' includes the following:
--a subfolder CAESAR-LISFLOOD, which contains
   -CAESAR-lisflood 1.9b.exe: Executable file that runs CAESAR-LISFLOOD. Runs on Windows only.
   -CAESAR-lisflood 1.9b.exe.config: Text confirguration file that enables importing large elevation grids.
   -gpl-3.0.txt: A text file describing the GNU General Public License version 3.0 (GPLv3) which applies to the items in this folder

--platte_dem_edited.txt: The input DEM, stored as an ASCII text file.
--platte_discharge1.txt: The input discharge time-series, stored as an ASCII text file. The discharge time-series was imposed, and was designed to map topographic patterns across a large range in inundation extent (i.e., from minimal to widespread inundation).
--platte_flow_model_parameters.xml: Text file that defines flow modeling parameters. To view the model parameters in the CAESAR-LISFLOOD graphical interface, run CAESAR-lisflood 1.9b.exe and select Config file > Open >  platte_flow_model_parameters.xml. 

-The subfolder 'output_files' includes the following:
--platte.dat: Text file that contains time-series output from the flow model. Each row begins with an output time step; the duration of the time step is 30 minutes for this file and is set in platte_flow_model_parameters.xml (see above)
--water_depth_time_series.zip: A zip archive of ASCII files containing a time-series of water depth maps generated with the model. The file naming convention is waterdepth[time].txt, where time is the numeric value in minutes. Each time has an associated input water discharge. The series of input water discharges is in platte_discharge1.txt (see above) and the time step for the discharge increments is 1440 minutes, as indicated in the model parameter file platte_flow_model_parameters.xml (see above).