Geomorphology monitoring sites at 15 locations along the Roanoke River in Salem and Roanoke, Virginia, represented riffle or pool habitats and were designed to facilitate repeated measuring at the same cross section over time. Local bench marks were installed at each site to provide both horizontal and vertical control. At a minimum, each site had two bench marks (designated BM) and two transect control marks (designated TC) that were tied together through a static survey-grade Global Positioning System (GPS) survey to establish control to the nearest centimeter.
Annual cross-section topographic surveys were conducted during summer low-flow periods at the 15 geomorphology monitoring sites using a total station from 2005 to 2012 at each site. Floodplains, banks, channels, and water-surface elevations were surveyed, with each survey beginning on the floodplain a minimum of 50 ft from the active channel. Floodplain features were surveyed on 5-10-ft intervals and at major breaks in slope, channel banks were surveyed on 1-5-ft intervals, and the active channel was surveyed on 1-2-ft intervals to document channel changes with greater resolution. Most sites had one bank that was steeper and more vegetated than the other; bank steepness occasionally prevented complete surveying of the banks, in which case the survey was continued up the bank as far as possible. Pools were surveyed from a canoe when depths prohibited wading. Water-surface slope within 10 meters upstream and downstream of the cross section was surveyed most years for evaluation of changes in gradient.