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Water Data for Nisqually River Delta at Site D2

Published by U.S. Geological Survey | Department of the Interior | Metadata Last Checked: January 27, 2026 | Last Modified: 2020-08-27T00:00:00Z
An upward-looking acoustic Doppler velocity meter (ADVM, SonTek SW, 3.0 MHz) located in a tidal channel of the Nisqually River Delta at site D2 (N 47d 05’ 37.2”/W 122d 42’ 56.4”) measured water level and current velocity at 15-minute intervals from February 16 to July 20, 2017 (104 of 154 days, accounting for missing periods). This site is in a tidal channel at a levee breach where flow is tidally influenced. The water depth of the sensor ranged from 0.04 to 4.63 m and may have been lower during periods of extreme low tide. The elevation (NAVD88) of the ADVM sensor was surveyed by RTN-GPS. The offset to convert all water depth time-series data to water surface elevation (NAVD88) is 0.06 meters. Instrument temperature ranged from 4.6 to 24.2 degrees C but may be bias during periods of low tide due to solar heating of the instrument. The mean downstream velocity component (Vx) ranged from -0.96 to 0.77 m/s. The mean vertical velocity component (Vy) ranged from -0.25 to 0.27 m/s and signal to noise ratio ranged from 13.2 to 74.2 dB. The ADVM measured the water-velocity profile using a dynamic boundary adjustment mode allowing up to 10 velocity measurements in the water-column profile. Time-series gaps of 15-minutes or more occurred when the instrument was offline, when error thresholds were exceeded, or when the water level in the channel dropped below the elevation of the sensor during periods of extreme low tide. This site is also referenced as "USGS 12081520 Madrone Channel near Olympia, WA". Discrete discharge data at this site are available at: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/inventory/?site_no=12081520&agency_cd=USGS&

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