The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (St. Louis and Rock Island Districts) and its federal and state partners in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) — including the U.S. Geological Survey Upper Midwest Environmental Science Center — needed high-resolution bathymetric data for the Peoria and Starved Rock Pools along the Illinois River. The project encompassed approximately 356 square miles of dynamic riverine environment presenting nearly every challenge that complex hydrographic surveys face.
The Illinois River system spans an extreme range of aquatic conditions. Navigation channels exceed 40 feet in depth. Adjacent backwater areas drop below 3 feet, with some zones inaccessible to any conventional survey vessel during low water periods. Seasonal flow variations produce current velocities that challenge vessel control during high water, and historic low water levels during one survey phase limited access across significant portions of the project area.
The survey was also required to integrate seamlessly with aerial topobathymetric lidar data being collected concurrently, producing a continuous elevation dataset across both terrestrial and submerged surfaces — a data integration challenge that demanded consistent datum management across
fundamentally different sensor types.
WGI deployed a comprehensive suite of hydrographic survey equipment aboard a 25-foot SAFE Boat configured for shallow water bathymetric operations, integrating the following primary systems:
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