Data From: Sea Level, Tidal, and River Flow Trends in the Lower Columbia River Estuary, 1853-Present

Authors

Stefan A. Talke, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis ObispoFollow
Andrew Mahedy, Portland State University
David A. Jay, Portland State UniversityFollow
Patrick Lau, Portland State University
Conrad Hilley, Portland State University
Austin Hudson, Portland State University

Sponsor

Funding was provided by the NSF Career award number 1455350, US Army Corps of Engineers (Award Award W1927N-14-2-0015), NSF OCE-0929055, NSF OCE-1155610, NSF CAREER 1455350, US Army Corps of Engineers (Award W1927N-14-2-0015), and Portland State University.

Document Type

Dataset

Publication Date

1-2020

Subjects

Oceanography -- Columbia River Estuary (Or. and Wash.) -- Mathematical models, Columbia River Estuary (Or. and Wash.)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how water levels have changed in the lower Columbia River Estuary after more than a century of anthropogenic modification and climate change. We found and recovered analog tidal records from the US National Archives and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration for Astoria, Oregon, from the years 1853-1876. We digitized these records using a computer-based, line-reading algorithm and the help of many Portland State students. We read through thousands of documents and letters to determine the relative height of measurements from 1853-1876 and the land. The historical measurements were then connected with the modern record at Tongue Point in Astoria, Oregon (1925-present). Additional measurements found in archives showed that the 1925-1960 Tongue Point record needed to be corrected by up to 5 cm. We also digitized nearby measurements from Youngs Bay and Fort Stevens at the coast. Put all together, these records show that: (1) Relative sea-level is rising more slowly in Astoria than the global average, in part due to the effect of plate tectonics but possibly also the redistribution of ocean water towards the western Pacific; (2) At the coast, relative sea level has been dropping over the last century, due to tectonic uplift; (3) River flow has decreased by roughly 50% in spring and early summer, but increased by more than 30% in winter, compared to the mid-19th century; (4) Tidal range has increased by ~5% in the last century, mostly due to channel dredging and estuarine infrastructure. The seasonal cycle of tides and sea-level has shifted due to altered river flow, with possible ecological implications. Details are found in the journal article, and examples of archival records are given in the electronic supplement.

Description

The data supports the manuscript: Talke, S.A.,Mahedy, D., Jay, D.A., Lau, P., Hilley, C., Hudson, A. (2020). Sea Level, Tidal, and River Flow Trends in the Lower Columbia River Estuary, 1853-present, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015656

The author's manuscript version of the article is available in PDXScholar: https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/31015

Data Description:
The data in these files depict tidal measurements made at Astoria, Oregon between 1853-1876, as well as associated data products. Other measurements made within the Columbia River Estuary between 1925 and 2019 are also included. Many different time scales are represented in the 19th century record, including water level data at 6 minute resolution (1855-1870), hourly resolution (1855-1876), high/low resolution (3-4 records per day, from 1853-1876), individual staff measurements (1854-1876), daily river flow (1855-1876), monthly averaged sea-level (1853-1870), and annually averaged sea-level (1853-1876). Post 1925 records include the datum-corrected record from Astoria-Tongue Point (1925-2019), the hourly tidal record from Astoria Young's Bay (1931-1943), the hourly tidal record from Fort Stevens (1941-1943), and an hourly tidal record from the River Pilots dock in downtown Astoria (all Oregon) from 2015-2019.

The Read Me file includes detailed data file description.

Rights

This work is marked with CC0 1.0 Universal

DOI

10.15760/cee-data.03

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/30838

Recommended Citation

Talke, S., Mahedy, A., Jay, D. A., Lau, P., Hilley, C., Hudson, A. (2020). "Data From: Sea Level, Tidal, and River Flow Trends in the Lower Columbia River Estuary, 1853-Present". Civil and Environmental Engineering Datasets. 3. https://doi.org/10.15760/cee-data.03