Near-field Remote Sensing of River Velocity, Stage, and Precipitation during Portions of 2015 in Waldo Canyon, Colorado, USA

The sensor ensemble (DEbris and Floodflow Early warNing System, DEFENS) was deployed in Waldo Canyon, Pike National Forest, Colorado, which was burned during the Waldo Canyon fire in the summer of 2012. The ensemble consists of noncontact, ground-based (near-field), Doppler velocity (velocity) and pulsed (stage or gage height) radars, rain gages, and a redundant radio communication network. This ensemble of instruments was used to calculate stream channel characteristics derived from light detection and ranging (lidar) data. These data were leveraged to predict mean channel velocities based on Manning's equation, which were needed to compute the kinematic celerity and uncertainties and include water level, cross-sectional area, mean-channel velocity, and discharge. Surface velocity, stage, and precipitation time-series data collected during the field deployment on 10 August, 2015 were used to validate this novel method for predicting flood wave velocities and travel times as a function of stream discharge.