Rhodamine concentration data, Kootenai River, near Bonners Ferry, Idaho, 2008

This data release provides measurements of dye concentration collected to support and validate numerical simulations of dispersion on the Kootenai River, downstream of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. On August 13, 2008, at 06:00, 25.4 kilograms of rhodamine WT was diluted using raw river water in a 378.5 liter tank and released as a nearly single slug. The dye was released near River Kilometer (RKM) 239 over a period of 17 minutes. From 06:01 - 06:10 the dye was released at a fairly constant rate, and from 06:10 - 06:18 the dye was released at a slower rate associated with cleaning and rinsing the tank. Measurements of dye concentration were made using water quality sondes with 6130 rhodamine probes. Two sampling strategies were used: a repeat cross-section near river kilometer (RKm) 229 was measured over the duration of the passing dye to determine the spatial variability of concentration, and 11 fixed locations were distributed downstream of the dye injection, over a period of 81 hours, and 59 RKM following the dye release. During this time period the discharge of the river remained near 271 cubic meters per second (cms), with a standard deviation of 7 cms based on USGS station 12309500.