Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID AK-2024-002

Baseline Study of the Snake River Estuary Dynamics, Nome, Alaska

Institute: Alaska
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2024-09-01 End Date: 2025-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $22,901 Total Non-Federal Funds: $22,901

Principal Investigators: Evan Joyce

Project Summary: The Snake River is a significant water feature in Nome, Alaska. At its mouth sits the soon-to-be expanded Port of Nome, and nearby is the City of Nome and the Nome Airport. In addition, flooding from the 2022 Typhoon Merbok in Nome caused extensive flooding damage in Nome. As such, the fluvial and marine dynamics that control water and sediment movement in the Snake River estuary are important to understand for infrastructure management and disaster management purposes. The proposed study will aim to characterize the Snake River estuarine dynamics, including: a baseline for tidal inundation into the Snake River, a baseline for saltwater intrusion into the Snake River, establishing equilibrium conditions for geomorphological processes in the Snake River estuary, and looking for patterns between existing sea water level and stream gauge data. With these baselines set, future coastal and riverine modeling, disaster management, and infrastructure planning can take into account estuarine dynamics.