Modeling of Historic Ice Jams on the Athabasca River at Fort McMurray

• Author / Creator

  Friesenhan, Evan Craig

• This report is an attempt at determining the validity of the suggestion that historical water levels recorded during an ice jam at MacEwan Bridge on the Athabasca River at Fort McMurray can be transposed downstream to the Clearwater confluence by simply subtracting 1 meter from the recorded water level. This report also investigates the importance of certain hydraulic properties on the difference in water levels between MacEwan Bridge and the Clearwater confluence. These parameters include discharge, ice jam roughness, ice jam location, and simple ice cover thickness.
  This investigation was done using recorded data of ice jams on the Athabasca River at Fort McMurray and modeled with the United States Army Core of Engineers Software HEC RAS.
  It was found that, based on simulations; the 1m suggestion was not valid as the difference in simulated water levels between the bridge and confluences varied from 0.04m to 4.61m. It was also determined that ice jam location, roughness, and discharge had a large effect on the water level difference whereas the simple ice cover thickness did not.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Athabasca River
  • Fort McMurray
  • Ice jams
  • Ice Jam Modelling
  • Water Resources Engineering
  • Hydrology

• Graduation date

  Spring 2004

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Engineering

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-sdm8-9486

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.