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River-related flooding in the Bad River (Mashkiiziibii) Estuary, Lake Superior, 2016-22

Metadata Updated: December 11, 2025

The Bad River (Mashkiiziibii) Estuary experiences flooding driven by both the elevation of Lake Superior and high-flow events in the rivers that feed the estuary. Inundation dynamics in the estuary depend on the interaction of lake levels and river flow. To capture those dynamics, we compiled water surface elevation (WSE) data from five gages bracketing the boundaries of the estuary. These included stream gages on the Bad River and Beartrap Creek at the upstream end of the estuary and on the Bad River and Kakagon Rivers near their mouths. The gage at Ashland Lighthouse in Chequamegon Bay was used to represent lake levels on the western edge of the estuary. We interpolated water elevation surfaces between the gages to cover the extent of the estuary, generating one surface per day between October, 2020 and September, 2022, using daily mean gage data. Additionally, we generated water elevation surfaces using 15-minute resolution gage data for a month-long high-flow period during spring of 2023, as well as for the 2016 and 2018 floods from observed high water marks associated with the floods. The water surfaces were overlaid on a digital elevation model (DEM) representing the 2019 topography and bathymetry of the Bad River Estuary to estimate inundation depths across the estuary. Provided in this data release are daily inundation depth rasters for 2020-2022 and the 2016 and 2018 floods, 15-minute inundation depth rasters for April 8th to May 8th, 2023, and a time-lapse video of the compiled 2020-2022 daily inundation maps.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date December 11, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date December 11, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-664dfe59d34e702fe8743cde
Data Last Modified 2024-09-30T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 9ba7841c-401f-40b9-a171-5322e07efc39
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 0e0436e85b386c3efd0f4f74a9d9ac89aa6cf2b6ec91415cbb7f245dfe66ef47
Source Schema Version 1.1

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