Preliminary model data for lake level gate operation and discharge at Reelfoot Lake - Tennessee and Kentucky

Reelfoot Lake, in northwestern Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky, is home to a Federal wildlife refuge, a State wildlife-management area, and to a tourism industry that is based on hunting, fishing, birding, and the area’s unique cultural history. In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, began a series of hydrologic investigations to support the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in managing lake level. The objective was to develop operational models that preserved the historic patterns of variability that had characterized the lake for the past 60 years while meeting seasonal water-level targets (Heal and others, 2022).

Preliminary models for gate operations at the new outlet control structure for Reelfoot Lake were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey using calibrated ratings of the lift gates. In 2018, the old structure at the outlet of Reelfoot Lake was buried and lake level control was transferred to a new structure. The transition from lake-level management of the old control structure to the new control structure was documented using historical lake level and discharge measurements and records of stop-log management from March 7, 2013, to August 12, 2018. Discharge into Running Reelfoot Bayou was determined using a standard stage-discharge rating curve. Discharge measured using an acoustic Doppler current profiler was used to calibrate gate-discharge equations for free and submerged orifice flow at the new structure (Heal and others, 2022).

Two lake operation models, one for the summer season and another for the winter season, are provided for the new structure based on data from this period. The summer operation model is based on operation of the gates once the lake level exceeds an elevation of 282.7 feet (ft) above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). Free flow begins when lake level reaches 282.3 ft above NAVD 88 and becomes transitional once the lake level exceeds 282.8 ft above NAVD 88. Submerged flow begins once the lake level reaches 283 ft above NAVD 88 and the tail-water depth is above critical flow depth. The winter operation model is based on operation of the gates once the lake level exceeds 283.2 ft above NAVD 88. Submerged flow begins when the lake rises to an elevation of 283.5 ft above NAVD 88 and the tail-water depth is above critical flow depth (Heal and others, 2022).