Richard McDonald
Richard McDonald is a Hydrologist with the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
Richard McDonald is a hydrologist with 25 years of experience working on general water resources, flow and
sediment transport dynamics and eco-hydrology. He has extensive experience performing field, laboratory and computational research on river flow and sediment transport associated with regulated and unregulated rivers related to instream flow requirements, physical habitat, and evaluation of channel restoration designs. He is the principal developer of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Multi-Dimensional Surface Water Modeling System (MD_SWMS) and co-developer of the iRIC modeling system.
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 39
Modeling hydraulic and sediment transport processes in white sturgeon spawning habitat on the Kootenai River, Idaho
The Kootenai River white sturgeon currently spawn (2005) in an 18-kilometer reach of the Kootenai River, Idaho. Since completion of Libby Dam upstream from the spawning reach, there has been only one successful year of recruitment of juvenile fish. Where successful in other rivers, white sturgeon spawn over clean coarse material of gravel size or larger. The channel substrate in the current spawni
Authors
Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson, Vaughn Paragamian, Gary J. Barton
Hanson Russian River Ponds floodplain restoration: Feasibility study and conceptual design; Appendix G: Physical evaluation of the restoration alternatives
Appendix G: Hanson Russian River Ponds Floodplain Restoration: Feasibility Study and Conceptual Design |G-1Appendix GPhysical Evaluation of the Restoration AlternativesRichard McDonald and Jonathan Nelson, PhDU.S. Geological Survey Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory, Golden, ColoradoIntroductionTo assess the relative and overall impacts of the scenarios proposed in Chapters 7 and 9,(S
Authors
Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson
The international river interface cooperative: Public domain flow and morphodynamics software for education and applications
This paper describes a new, public-domain interface for modeling flow, sediment transport and morphodynamics in rivers and other geophysical flows. The interface is named after the International River Interface Cooperative (iRIC), the group that constructed the interface and many of the current solvers included in iRIC. The interface is entirely free to any user and currently houses thirteen model
Authors
Jonathan M. Nelson, Yasuyuki Shimizu, Takaaki Abe, Kazutake Asahi, Mineyuki Gamou, Takuya Inoue, Toshiki Iwasaki, Takaharu Kakinuma, Satomi Kawamura, Ichiro Kimura, Tomoko Kyuka, Richard R. McDonald, Mohamed Nabi, Makoto Nakatsugawa, Francisco J. Simoes, Hiroshi Takebayashi, Yasunori Watanabe
Field scale test of multi-dimensional flow and morphodynamic simulations used for restoration design analysis
Two- and three-dimensional morphodynamic simulations are becoming common in studies of channel form and process. The performance of these simulations are often validated against measurements from laboratory studies. Collecting channel change information in natural settings for
model validation is difficult because it can be expensive and under most channel forming flows the resulting channel cha
Authors
Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson, Ryan L. Fosness, Peter O. Nelson
Noncontact methods for measuring water-surface elevations and velocities in rivers: Implications for depth and discharge extraction
Recently developed optical and videographic methods for measuring water-surface properties in a noninvasive manner hold great promise for extracting river hydraulic and bathymetric information. This paper describes such a technique, concentrating on the method of infrared videog-
raphy for measuring surface velocities and both acoustic (laboratory-based) and laser-scanning (field-based) technique
Authors
Jonathan M. Nelson, Paul J. Kinzel, Richard R. McDonald, Mark Schmeeckle
Modeling flow, sediment transport and morphodynamics in rivers
Predicting the response of natural or man-made channels to imposed supplies of water and sediment is one of the difficult practical problems commonly addressed by fluvial geomorphologists. This problem typically arises in three situations. In the first situation, geomorphologists are attempting to understand why a channel or class of channels has a certain general form; in a sense, this is the cen
Authors
Jonathan M. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Yasuyuki Shimizu, Ichiro Kimura, Mohamed Nabi, Kazutake Asahi
Field and laboratory determination of water-surface elevation and velocity using noncontact measurements
Noncontact methods for measuring water-surface elevation and velocity in laboratory flumes and rivers are presented with examples. Water-surface elevations are measured using an array of acoustic transducers in the laboratory and using laser scanning in field situations. Water-surface velocities are based on using particle image velocimetry or other machine vision techniques on infrared video of t
Authors
Jonathan M. Nelson, Paul J. Kinzel, Mark Walter Schmeeckle, Richard R. McDonald, Justin T. Minear
Coevolution of bed surface patchiness and channel morphology: 1. Mechanisms of forced patch formation
Riverbeds frequently display a spatial structure where the sediment mixture composing the channel bed has been sorted into discrete patches of similar grain size. Even though patches are a fundamental feature in gravel bed rivers, we have little understanding of how patches form, evolve, and interact. Here we present a two-dimensional morphodynamic model that is used to examine in greater detail t
Authors
Peter A. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson, William E. Dietrich
Coevolution of bed surface patchiness and channel morphology: 2. Numerical experiments
In gravel bed rivers, bed topography and the bed surface grain size distribution evolve simultaneously, but it is not clear how feedbacks between topography and grain sorting affect channel morphology. In this, the second of a pair of papers examining interactions between bed topography and bed surface sorting in gravel bed rivers, we use a two-dimensional morphodynamic model to perform numerical
Authors
Peter A. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson, William E. Dietrich
Prediction of suspended-sediment concentrations at selected sites in the Fountain Creek watershed, Colorado, 2008-09
In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Colorado Springs City Engineering, and the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, began a small-scale pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of a computational model of streamflow and suspended-sediment transport for predicting suspende
Authors
Robert W. Stogner, Sr., Jonathan M. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Paul J. Kinzel, David P. Mau
Using computational modeling of river flow with remotely sensed data to infer channel bathymetry
As part of an ongoing investigation into the use of computational river flow and morphodynamic models for the purpose of correcting and extending remotely sensed river datasets, a simple method for inferring channel bathymetry is developed and discussed. The method is based on an inversion of the equations expressing conservation of mass and momentum to develop equations that can be solved for dep
Authors
Jonathan M. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Paul J. Kinzel, Y. Shimizu
Use of multidimensional modeling to evaluate a channel restoration design for the Kootenai River, Idaho
River channel construction projects aimed at restoring or improving degraded waterways have become common but have been variously successful. In this report a methodology is proposed to evaluate channel designs before channels are built by using multidimensional modeling and analysis. This approach allows detailed analysis of water-surface profiles, sediment transport, and aquatic habitat that may
Authors
B.L. Logan, R. R. McDonald, J. M. Nelson, P.J. Kinzel, G. J. Barton
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 39
Modeling hydraulic and sediment transport processes in white sturgeon spawning habitat on the Kootenai River, Idaho
The Kootenai River white sturgeon currently spawn (2005) in an 18-kilometer reach of the Kootenai River, Idaho. Since completion of Libby Dam upstream from the spawning reach, there has been only one successful year of recruitment of juvenile fish. Where successful in other rivers, white sturgeon spawn over clean coarse material of gravel size or larger. The channel substrate in the current spawni
Authors
Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson, Vaughn Paragamian, Gary J. Barton
Hanson Russian River Ponds floodplain restoration: Feasibility study and conceptual design; Appendix G: Physical evaluation of the restoration alternatives
Appendix G: Hanson Russian River Ponds Floodplain Restoration: Feasibility Study and Conceptual Design |G-1Appendix GPhysical Evaluation of the Restoration AlternativesRichard McDonald and Jonathan Nelson, PhDU.S. Geological Survey Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory, Golden, ColoradoIntroductionTo assess the relative and overall impacts of the scenarios proposed in Chapters 7 and 9,(S
Authors
Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson
The international river interface cooperative: Public domain flow and morphodynamics software for education and applications
This paper describes a new, public-domain interface for modeling flow, sediment transport and morphodynamics in rivers and other geophysical flows. The interface is named after the International River Interface Cooperative (iRIC), the group that constructed the interface and many of the current solvers included in iRIC. The interface is entirely free to any user and currently houses thirteen model
Authors
Jonathan M. Nelson, Yasuyuki Shimizu, Takaaki Abe, Kazutake Asahi, Mineyuki Gamou, Takuya Inoue, Toshiki Iwasaki, Takaharu Kakinuma, Satomi Kawamura, Ichiro Kimura, Tomoko Kyuka, Richard R. McDonald, Mohamed Nabi, Makoto Nakatsugawa, Francisco J. Simoes, Hiroshi Takebayashi, Yasunori Watanabe
Field scale test of multi-dimensional flow and morphodynamic simulations used for restoration design analysis
Two- and three-dimensional morphodynamic simulations are becoming common in studies of channel form and process. The performance of these simulations are often validated against measurements from laboratory studies. Collecting channel change information in natural settings for
model validation is difficult because it can be expensive and under most channel forming flows the resulting channel cha
Authors
Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson, Ryan L. Fosness, Peter O. Nelson
Noncontact methods for measuring water-surface elevations and velocities in rivers: Implications for depth and discharge extraction
Recently developed optical and videographic methods for measuring water-surface properties in a noninvasive manner hold great promise for extracting river hydraulic and bathymetric information. This paper describes such a technique, concentrating on the method of infrared videog-
raphy for measuring surface velocities and both acoustic (laboratory-based) and laser-scanning (field-based) technique
Authors
Jonathan M. Nelson, Paul J. Kinzel, Richard R. McDonald, Mark Schmeeckle
Modeling flow, sediment transport and morphodynamics in rivers
Predicting the response of natural or man-made channels to imposed supplies of water and sediment is one of the difficult practical problems commonly addressed by fluvial geomorphologists. This problem typically arises in three situations. In the first situation, geomorphologists are attempting to understand why a channel or class of channels has a certain general form; in a sense, this is the cen
Authors
Jonathan M. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Yasuyuki Shimizu, Ichiro Kimura, Mohamed Nabi, Kazutake Asahi
Field and laboratory determination of water-surface elevation and velocity using noncontact measurements
Noncontact methods for measuring water-surface elevation and velocity in laboratory flumes and rivers are presented with examples. Water-surface elevations are measured using an array of acoustic transducers in the laboratory and using laser scanning in field situations. Water-surface velocities are based on using particle image velocimetry or other machine vision techniques on infrared video of t
Authors
Jonathan M. Nelson, Paul J. Kinzel, Mark Walter Schmeeckle, Richard R. McDonald, Justin T. Minear
Coevolution of bed surface patchiness and channel morphology: 1. Mechanisms of forced patch formation
Riverbeds frequently display a spatial structure where the sediment mixture composing the channel bed has been sorted into discrete patches of similar grain size. Even though patches are a fundamental feature in gravel bed rivers, we have little understanding of how patches form, evolve, and interact. Here we present a two-dimensional morphodynamic model that is used to examine in greater detail t
Authors
Peter A. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson, William E. Dietrich
Coevolution of bed surface patchiness and channel morphology: 2. Numerical experiments
In gravel bed rivers, bed topography and the bed surface grain size distribution evolve simultaneously, but it is not clear how feedbacks between topography and grain sorting affect channel morphology. In this, the second of a pair of papers examining interactions between bed topography and bed surface sorting in gravel bed rivers, we use a two-dimensional morphodynamic model to perform numerical
Authors
Peter A. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Jonathan M. Nelson, William E. Dietrich
Prediction of suspended-sediment concentrations at selected sites in the Fountain Creek watershed, Colorado, 2008-09
In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Colorado Springs City Engineering, and the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, began a small-scale pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of a computational model of streamflow and suspended-sediment transport for predicting suspende
Authors
Robert W. Stogner, Sr., Jonathan M. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Paul J. Kinzel, David P. Mau
Using computational modeling of river flow with remotely sensed data to infer channel bathymetry
As part of an ongoing investigation into the use of computational river flow and morphodynamic models for the purpose of correcting and extending remotely sensed river datasets, a simple method for inferring channel bathymetry is developed and discussed. The method is based on an inversion of the equations expressing conservation of mass and momentum to develop equations that can be solved for dep
Authors
Jonathan M. Nelson, Richard R. McDonald, Paul J. Kinzel, Y. Shimizu
Use of multidimensional modeling to evaluate a channel restoration design for the Kootenai River, Idaho
River channel construction projects aimed at restoring or improving degraded waterways have become common but have been variously successful. In this report a methodology is proposed to evaluate channel designs before channels are built by using multidimensional modeling and analysis. This approach allows detailed analysis of water-surface profiles, sediment transport, and aquatic habitat that may
Authors
B.L. Logan, R. R. McDonald, J. M. Nelson, P.J. Kinzel, G. J. Barton