Estuary-wide Data Repository for Delta Environmental Data to Understand a California Estuary Poster (2017)

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | July 1st, 2017

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) has some of the most pressing water supply and natural resource management issues facing California. The Delta Environmental Da

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) has some of the most pressing water supply and natural resource management issues facing California. The Delta Environmental Data for the Understanding a California Estuary (DEDUCE), a collaborative project building upon the 2014 Environmental Data Summit vision, initiated a forum to integrate disparate data from multiple sources along with legacy data not uploaded to any of the State’s data-sharing systems. DEDUCE collected legacy toxic contaminant data from the Delta according to rigorous business rules, uploaded the data to the expanded estuary-wide data repository, and established design standards to exchange datasets with the California Environmental Data Exchange Network (CEDEN), a contributor to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Quality Exchange (WQX). This data integration effort liberated accurate, accessible, and synthesized data for scientists and decision-makers as a foundation to inform management actions with the best available science

Estuary-Wide Data Repository for the Delta Environmental Data to Understand a California Estuary

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | July 1st, 2017

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) is the backdrop for some of the most pressing water supply and natural resource management issues facing California. To navigate

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) is the backdrop for some of the most pressing water supply and natural resource management issues facing California. To navigate such matters comprehensively with transparency, and rigor, it is important to ensure broad dissemination of data. An Environmental Data Summit held in 2014 created a new era in information management and knowledge discoveries, and shed light on challenges associated with the use of disparate datasets. The Delta Environmental Data for the Understanding a California Estuary (DEDUCE), a collaborative project, builds upon the Data Summit vision and initiated a forum to integrate disparate data from multiple sources and legacy data that are currently not in any of the State’s data sharing systems. DEDUCE expanded the existing infrastructure to house water quality data from the Delta to address management questions by identifying and collecting high priority data according to rigorous business rules and mapping these data to a central system. This important step of harmonizing the data improves its interoperability and increases the access to and exchange of high-quality environmental data. DEDUCE facilitates the upload, aggregation and display of data in tools such as those created under the auspices of the California Water Quality Monitoring Council, including EcoAtlas and My Water Quality Portals, and CD3: Contaminant Data Display and Download tool for accessing and visualizing data comparable to State standards. DEDUCE achieved collecting and uploading the legacy and toxic contaminant data, and established design standards to exchange future datasets from the initial data storage or database to California Environmental Data Exchange Network (CEDEN). This data integration effort created accurate, accessible, and synthesized data for scientists and decision-makers as a foundation to inform management actions with the best available science.

Evaluation and Refinement of Chlorophyll-a Algorithms for High-Biomass Blooms in San Francisco Bay

Remote Sensing (MDPI) | March 21st, 2024

Evaluation and Synthesis of the Yolo Bypass Fish Monitoring Program

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | August 18th, 2026

The Yolo Bypass is the largest functional remnant floodplain of the Sacramento River, providing benefits to aquatic taxa of the San Francisco Bay and Sacram

The Yolo Bypass is the largest functional remnant floodplain of the Sacramento River, providing benefits to aquatic taxa of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (hereafter, Bay-Delta). Because of the Yolo Bypass’s vital role in flood control and its ecological effects, the California Department of Water Resources started the Yolo Bypass Fish Monitoring Program (YBFMP) to monitor the aquatic ecology of the floodplain. Here, we present a scientific evaluation of the monitoring program to assess the efficacy and efficiency of the program in meeting its objective of collecting biological data to understand the ecological role the Yolo Bypass plays in the larger Bay-Delta. We used a multivariate assessment of floodplain flow to classify flood events (no flood, intense, early, late) and water years (low, average, high). To assess efficacy, we used a null hypothesis approach to determine if the YBFMP could distinguish variability in measured constituents (water quality and nutrient concentrations; phytoplankton, zooplankton, drift invertebrates, and fish communities; and densities of Chinook salmon [Oncorhynchus tshawytscha], Sacramento splittail [Pogonichthys macrolepidotus], and prickly sculpin [Cottus asper]) across different flood regime classifications. To assess efficiency, we used a data subsampling approach to quantify the amount of data needed to reach similar conclusions to analyses that used the entire dataset. Regarding efficacy, we concluded that the YBFMP is generally effective at identifying variability across various spatial and temporal scales (including flood regimes). Regarding efficiency, we concluded that reduced sampling effort would likely result in similar conclusions, enabling program managers to identify sites or periods that do not provide data essential to meeting program objectives. Our evaluation of the YBFMP indicated where data variability might limit mechanistic inference (particularly for phytoplankton and zooplankton), thus indicating that a series of targeted studies may be a prerequisite for further analysis. This evaluation has also identified areas where existing sampling may not be providing additional informational value, allowing for reallocation of effort to address management concerns.

Evaluation of PCB Concentrations, Masses, and Movement from Dredged Areas in San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | March 28th, 2019

This report is a product of a Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP) project funded to analyze sediment PCB data in the Dredged Materia

This report is a product of a Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP) project funded to analyze sediment PCB data in the Dredged Materials Management Office (DMMO) database to address priority management questions for PCBs. 

Evaluation of Salinity Patterns and Effects of Tidal Flows and Temporary Barriers in South Delta Channels

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | September 15th, 2016

There are several important water issues in the south Delta related to the San Joaquin River (SJR) inflow, Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) expo

There are several important water issues in the south Delta related to the San Joaquin River (SJR) inflow, Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) export pumping, reverse flows in Old and Middle Rivers, tidal water elevations and corresponding tidal flows in south Delta channels, effects of the temporary rock barriers that are installed seasonally by DWR in various south Delta channels, as well as the sources and longitudinal patterns of salinity caused by the net inflows, outflows, and tidal movement of water in south Delta channels. This study investigated the likely inflow locations of higher salinity water (i.e., sources) measured in Old River between the head of Old River and the Delta-Mendota Canal (DMC); the electrical conductivity (EC) at the Old River at Tracy Boulevard EC monitoring station was often the highest EC measured in the south Delta channels and has frequently exceeded the D-1641 EC objectives.

Evidence of Landlocked Chinook Salmon Populations in California

North American Journal of Fisheries Management (Taylor & Francis) | November 10th, 2015

Natural reproduction of adfluvial Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha has been documented in their native and introduced range but not in California, the southern end

Natural reproduction of adfluvial Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha has been documented in their native and introduced range but not in California, the southern end of their native range. A combination of anecdotal evidence and survey data suggests that successful spawning by Chinook Salmon reared in California reservoirs could be common. The planted juveniles are often from different basins and are genetically distinguishable from local salmon populations below reservoirs. Consequently, the possibility of behavioral and genetic interactions may lead to complications of restoration efforts via trap and haul programs. The full extent of this phenomenon needs to be documented before trap and haul programs are initiated to reintroduce salmon above reservoirs.

Evolution of global snow drought characteristics from 1850 to 2100

Environmental Research Letters (IOP) | June 6th, 2023

Examining the causes and consequences of hybridization during Chinook salmon reintroductions: using the San Joaquin River as a restoration case study of management options

University of California, Davis (UC Davis) | June 15th, 2014

Successful salmonid restoration efforts depend upon an understanding of the evolutionary processes that historically shaped population diversity, as well as the realities

Successful salmonid restoration efforts depend upon an understanding of the evolutionary processes that historically shaped population diversity, as well as the realities of currently available, altered river systems. Habitat alterations over the past century have dramatically changed the ecological forces that shaped salmonid speciation and evolution, bringing formerly separate and distinct populations into contact and in some cases leading to hybridization. Hybridization can threaten the genetic diversity within salmonid species and may affect the outcomes of restoration efforts. Here we use the San Joaquin River Restoration as a case study to discuss some of the genetic challenges of Chinook salmon restoration in a newly reopened habitat. We discuss a range of genetic management strategies—from passive reintroduction to tightly managed, active reintroduction—and the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

Excavation and Embankment by Water Power

Scientific American | July 24th, 1886

I wish to call the attention of the Society to a plan by which large excavations and embankments can be cheaply made —which is especially applicable to earthen dams

I wish to call the attention of the Society to a plan by which large excavations and embankments can be cheaply made —which is especially applicable to earthen dams— by simply applying the method used in the hydraulic mines that have been so largely developed in California. The system, in brief, is discharging the water under a vertical head of from 100 to 300 feet against the bank to be excavated. The momentum of the water cuts the bank, the material of which is conveyed by it into the flume, and thence by it to the place at which it is to be discharged. This point of discharge is generally in some water course or river, which soon becomes dammed by a perfectly water-tight dam, which remains intact and tight until it is destroyed, or partially so, by the winter's flood washing away the material from the top.