Faculty of Bioscience Engineering Academic Year 2009-2010

Cryo-thermal-hydrodynamics of tidal flats: A case study of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary

Wieter Boone

Directors

: Prof. Dr. ir. Brian Morse, Laval University : Prof. Dr. ir. Niko Verhoest, Ghent University

Master dissertation presented to obtain the degree of Master of Bioscience Engineering: Environmental Technology

The authors and promoters give the permission to use this project for consultation and to copy parts of it for personal use. Every other use is subject to the copyright laws, more specically the source must be extensively specied when using from this project. De auteurs en begeleiders geven de toelating dit project voor consultatie beschikbaar te stellen en delen ervan te kopiren voor persoonlijk gebruik. Elk ander gebruik valt onder e de beperkingen van het auteursrecht, in het bijzonder met betrekking tot de verplichting uitdrukkelijk de bron te vermelden bij het aanhalen van resultaten uit dit project. Ghent, May 2010

The promotors

Prof. Dr. ir. Brian Morse

Prof. Dr. ir. Niko Verhoest

The author

Wieter Boone

Acknowledgements
The time has come to nish with the start. There is no place for original introductions, only for my upright gratitude. I break the ice by thanking my director Prof. Brian Morse for his enthusiastic support, ideas and motivating words. Thanks to him I could make a thesis about a subject that fascinated me right from the start. I also want to thank my Belgian director, Prof. Niko Verhoest for his comments and corrections. No ice surveys in absence of good company, without Eric or Yann I would never make one step on thin ice. Yann will probably never again forget a scarf when it is -25 advise and time. I am grateful to the St. Louis parish in Lotbini`re, to the St. Michel parish in Sillery and to e their respective sacristans to give me access to the church steeples. The cameras in those steeples would never be installed or would never work without the help of Dany, Jo and Anthony. Special thanks go out to the FEDNAV Group, more in particular Mr. Paul Pathy, Mr. Thomas H. Paterson, Mr. Tim Keane and the crew of the MV Arctic, to make it possible to board their ship for an ice survey of the river. Furthermore, I want to acknowledge the great contributions of Gregory to the 2D-model and I want to thank Eric for the implementation of the graphical user interface. . Further, I would like to thank Pierre-Marc and Pierre-Philippe for their help and Annie-Claude for her

ii

Abstract I owe an enormous thanks to Kiem to be crazy enough to follow me to an other part of the world. You are as cool as ice. Then there is Leendert, he lled the apartment with sparks of transmittable energy. He always stayed ahead of me, but marked the way. I think I made a friend for life. At last, my mum, my dad and my sisters, thank you for the support you gave me during the past ve years. This year I was far away, but I felt your love and sympathy. I am proud I nished this to an end and this largely thanks to you.

Wieter Boone Qubec, May 25, 2010 e

iii

Introduction
In the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary in Canada, ice related phenomena can be observed from the end of November till the beginning of April. As soon as atmospheric temperatures remain below freezing point, ice starts to form on the wetted tidal ats during low tide. When the freezing temperatures persist, water temperature rapidly decreases to 0 . As a consequence ice starts to grow on the tidal ats, where it can build-up to signicant depths. Little is known about the dynamics of the ice-sheet on the tidal ats of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary, even though it can have many dierent impacts. The ice changes the morphology of the shorelines and inuences biota that live in the intertidal zones. Hydraulic characteristics of the Fluvial Estuary as the cross-section and resistance to ow can also change signicantly due to the inuence of ice structures on the tidal ats. Furthermore, this build-up makes that the volume of the tidal prism and the discharge capacity of the river are reduced during winter. Knowledge of the tidal at ice processes is interesting information for any modeling eort of the St. Lawrence River and Fluvial Estuary. The presented study has as objective to characterize the growth, decay and features of ice on the tidal ats of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary and to explore the inuence of the obtained data on river eco-hydraulics. Because of its socioeconomical importance, the St. Lawrence Estuary is a well monitored river. Many governmental departments participate in the research, for example Environment Canada (EC) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Both departments cooperate to produce ice charts, which are published online (www.marinfo.gc.ca). Those ice charts give good information about the areal coverage, but they provide little information about the ice thickness. In order to measure this thickness, data and eld surveys were conducted by the author at three specic sites in the Fluvial Estuary of the St. Lawrence, namely Qubec e City, Lvis and Lotbini`re. To monitor growth and decay of the tidal at ice, digital cameras e e were posted at two sites, Qubec City and Lotbini`re and a time lapse of the complete ice e e iv

Introduction season was made. The sites were chosen because of the signicant dierence in tidal range (5.2 and 3.0 m respectively) and to cover both the south and the north shore. The chosen sites are situated in the fairly narrow stretches of the river, where currents and tides dominate the tidal ats. Ice processes in the dierent sections of the river are interconnected, whereby the upstream parts highly inuence the ice conditions downstream. On the tidal ats in the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary ice does not form as in any northern river, due to inuence of the tides, currents and continuous winter navigation. Therefore the ice formation is highly unique. During the eld surveys, the resulting ice features were photographed and their formation processes were documented. To frame and clarify this study, Part I gives a short literature overview. The St. Lawrence River and the nature of estuary ice are introduced, as well as the growth and decay of tidal at ice. Furthermore, a short discussion of the eect of an estuary ice cover is given, with the main focus on the eect on hydraulics, biota and sediment. Part II, subsequently draws attention to the characteristics of the study area, namely the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary, followed by a description of the selected study sites. In addition, this parts describes the methodology and the materials used. The results and related discussion are given in Part III. As a conclusion, Part IV summarizes the results obtained in this study and presents some recommendations.

Abbreviations
ADDF CCG CD CHS CIS CSI dd DFO EC GIS GPS IHO MSC PSU SLC TIN UTM WGS 1984 WMO Accumulative Degree Days of Freezing Canadian Coast Guard Chart Datum Canadian Hydrographic Service Canadian Ice Service Consortium for Spatial Information degree days Department of Fischeries and Oceans Canada Environment Canada Geographical Information System Global Positioning System International Hydrographic Organization Meteorological Service of Canada Practical Salinity Units St. Lawrence Center Triangulated Irregular Network Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system World Geodetic System 1984 World Meteorological Organization

vi

Contents
Acknowledgements Introduction Abbreviations Contents ii iv vi vii

Literature Review

1
2 2 3 3 4 7 8 10 10 12 13 14 14 15 16 16 16 17 18 19 20 21

1 St. Lawrence River and Estuary 1.1 Ice and Estuaries . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Research of the St. Lawrence River . . 1.3 The St. Lawrence River and Estuary . 1.3.1 Hydrographic Division . . . . . 1.4 Estuary Ice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.1 St. Lawrence River and Estuary 2 Ice 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Growth and Decay Static Ice Formation . Ice Cover Formation in Ice in the Shore Zone Ice on the Tidal Flats 2.4.1 Growth . . . . 2.4.2 Decay . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . During Winter

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . . . . Large Rivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

3 Eects of an Estuary Ice Cover 3.1 Ice Inuence on Estuary Hydraulics and Characteristics 3.1.1 Ice Inuence on Hydrodynamics . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Hydraulics of Ice Covered Channel . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 Hydrodynamics of a Tidal Flat . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.4 Ice Covers and Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Eect on Biota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Eect on Sediment Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

Contents

II

Material and Methods

24
25 26 26 26 28 29 29 30 32 32 33 35

4 Study Area 4.1 Characteristics of the Selected Sites 4.1.1 Lotbini`re . . . . . . . . . . . e 4.1.2 Qubec City . . . . . . . . . e 4.2 Meteorologic Conditions . . . . . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

5 Surveys 5.1 Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Photographic Monitoring 6.1 Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Photogrammetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

III

Results and Discussion

38
39 40 41 45 46 48 49 51 51 54 54 56 58 59 60 62 64 64 68 68 69 70

7 Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics 7.1 Boulder Barricades . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Tidal Flat at Lotbini`re . . . . . . . . . e 7.2.1 Zones 1 and 2 . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.2 Zones 3 and Zone 4 . . . . . . . 7.2.3 Ice Thickness . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.4 Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Tidal Flats in Qubec . . . . . . . . . . e 7.3.1 Ice Thickness and Interpretation 8 Morphological Aspects 8.1 Fast Ice Edge . . . . 8.2 Ice-push Ridges . . . 8.3 Blisters . . . . . . . 8.4 Cracks and Fissures 8.5 Ice and Sediments . 8.6 Ice types . . . . . . . of Tidal Flat Ice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

9 Hydraulic Model 9.1 Model Setup . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 Results of Simulations . . . . . 9.2.1 Impact on Water Levels 9.2.2 Impact on Velocities . . 9.3 Interpretation . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

. . . . .

viii

Contents

IV

Conclusions and Recommendations

74
75

10 Conclusion

Lists and Bibliography

77
78 83 84

List of Figures List of Tables Bibliography

VI

Appendices

90

ix

Part I

Literature Review

Chapter 1

St. Lawrence River and Estuary

1.1 Ice and Estuaries

Estuaries are tide-dominated coastal environments. Cameron and Pritchard (1963) dened an estuary is as a semi-enclosed coastal body of water which has free connection to the open sea and within which sea water is measurably diluted with fresh water derived from land drainage. Although this denition is not complete, because it does not encompass the important inuence of the tides and because the spatial boundaries are susceptible to interpretation (Morse, 2009), it is still commonly used. In this work an estuary is dened as an inlet of the sea, reaching into the river valley as far as the upper limit of tidal rise, usually being divisible into three sectors: a) a marine or lower estuary, in free connection with the open sea; b) an upper estuary, subject to strong salt and freshwater mixing; and c) a uvial estuary, characterised by fresh water but subject to daily tidal action (Dionne, 1963). Ice occurrence is a common feature of many estuaries around the world. How long ice persists in an estuary primarily depends on the local climate (particularly the number of degree-days) and the water temperature of the local sea (Morse, 2009). On high latitudes (approximate > 45 ) an ice cover forms each winter, where it can last for up to nine months (Morse, 2009). For lower latitudes, ice development in estuaries is more infrequent. Many publications exist about ice in estuaries. Of the continental estuaries in North America, the macrotidal estuaries that mouth in the Bay of Fundy (Gordon and Desplanque, 1981; Desplanque and Bray, 1986; Desplanque and Mossman, 1998; Partridge, 2001; Sanders et al., 2008) and the Cook Inlet in Alaska (Nelson and Whitney, 1996) were described, next to the mesotidal Portneuf Estuary in Qubec (Morse et al., 2003, 2006a,b) and the Great Bay in e New Hampshire (Meese et al., 1987). Also the estuaries in the Canadian Arctic received 2

Chapter 1. St. Lawrence River and Estuary attention, the Mackenzie Estuary was investigated by Macdonald (2000); Macdonald and Yu (2006) and Emmerton et al. (2008), the Churchill Estuary by Kuzyk et al. (2008) and La Grande Estuary by Ingram and Larouche (1987). The Russian rivers that mouth in the Arctic Ocean were reviewed by Dolgopolova and Mikhailova (2008), while the important Lena and Yana Rivers were discussed by Eicken et al. (2005). Strikingly, none of these estuaries has the same characteristics as the Fluvial Estuary of the St. Lawrence. Fluvial estuaries are normally covered by a continuous ice cover, but in the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary this can never be the case because ship trac keeps the navigation channel open. Tidal ats have characteristics in common with coastal shores, therefore the understanding of ice processes in the shore zone are relevant for this work. There is a great need for research on ice on shores in Canada, as ninety percent of the countries shorelines and lakes are aected by ice (Forbes and Taylor, 1994). Starting from the 1970s authors started to investigate the inuence of ice on the seabed and coasts (e.g. Kovacs and Sodhi, 1980)). The review of Forbes and Taylor (1994) gives an excellent overview of the geomorphological relevance of ice for the very diverse Canadian coasts. The dierent ice interactions in coastal zones around the globe were also described in many eld studies or books (Short and Wiseman, 1974; Taylor, 1978; Allard et al., 1998; Johnson, 2007).

1.2

Research of the St. Lawrence River

The St. Lawrence River is a well-investigated river. The St. Lawrence Centre (SLC), a federal research and development centre and a Devision of EC, is completely devoted to the rivers ecosystem. They conduct a multitude of studies and research programs aimed at better understanding how the ecosystems of the St. Lawrence River functions (SLC, 2010). Also other governmental organizations perform research or surveys like the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and dierent Divisions of EC. The latter has a devision, the Water Survey of Canada, that has a team, who models the St. Lawrence River. The ice conditions of the St. Lawrence are monitored by the CCG and the Canadian Ice Service (CIS), they publish their ice maps online (CCG, 2010). Recent publications on ice processes in the St. Lawrence river include the work of Richard and Morse (2008), Morse et al. (2003), Emond et al. (2010) and Smith et al. (2006). The inuence of ice on tidal at geomorphology of the sediment rich Upper Estuary was discussed in numerous publications by Dionne (1963, 1969, 1974, 1985, 1989, 1998) and Troude and Serodes (1988).

1.3

The St. Lawrence River and Estuary

The St. Lawrence River basin, to which the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary belongs, is the second-largest river network in North America with respect to annual discharge (Thorp et al., 3

Chapter 1. St. Lawrence River and Estuary 2005). The basin holds roughly 18 % (23 000 km3 ) of the worlds freshwater reserve (Fuller et al., 1995), so its importance is hard to overestimate. The 1.6 million km2 watershed, where water can travel at least 3260 km from western Lake Superior to the Cabot Strait in the estuarine Gulf of St. Lawrence, is subdivided in three subbasins, the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Main Stem and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This work only pertains to the Main Stem, referred to as the St. Lawrence River and Estuary.

1.3.1

Hydrographic Division

The St. Lawrence River and Estuary are situated between the outlet of Lake Ontario and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The River has an average slope of 14 cm/km. The shorelines are inuenced by the Canadian Shield and the Appalachian Highlands and many are characterized by large boulders. The channel is composed of primarily sand and gravel, except for rock outcrops where natural falls formerly occurred. The main tributaries of the St. Lawrence River are the Saguenay, Ottawa and St. Maurice River, that drain the Canadian Shield. At Qubec e 3 /s (1962-1988), City, the yearly averaged discharge of the St. Lawrence River equals 12 101 m the maximal diurnal tidal range is 6 to 8 m and currents are up to 1.5 m/s (Thorp et al., 2005). The St. Lawrence River can be subdivided in four parts: the River Section, the Fluvial Estuary, the Upper Estuary and the Lower or Marine Estuary (see Figure 1.1, Table 1.1 and EC, 2009).

Table 1.1: Geographical limits of the dierent parts of the St. Lawrence River and their approximate length [after EC (2009) and IHO (1953)].

Approximate length (km) St. Lawrence River and Estuary River Section Fluvial Estuary Upper Estuary Lower Estuary 1195 655 160 150 230

From Outlet Lake Ontario Outlet Lake Ontario Outlet Lake St. Pierre Eastern tip Ile dOrlans e Mouth Saguenay River

To Western tip Ile dAnticosti Outlet Lake St. Pierre Eastern tip Ile dOrlans e Mouth Saguenay River Western tip Ile dAnticosti

Chapter 1. St. Lawrence River and Estuary The River Section, with a length of 655 km, has modest oodplain areas and four natural uvial lakes occur (e.g. Lake St. Lawrence near Cornwall, Lake St. Louis and Lake St. Francois near Montreal and Lake St. Pierre near Trois-Rivi`re). These wide and shallow pools were e present prior to the construction of large hydroelectric and diversion dams, but their size and depth has changed. However, the lakes stay shallow (80 % < 6 m) in comparison to the main riverine channels (often 10 to 12 m deep) and support broad expenses of submerged vascular macrophytes and abundant populations of shes, benthic invertebrates and plankton. The rivers width varies from 1 to 2 km in constricted reaches to average 12 km in some uvial lakes. Although this section is aected by the tides, the diurnal amplitude signal is absent (upstream of Sorel) or small (tidal amplitude Lake St. Pierre: 10-20 cm) (Morse, 2009).

Figure 1.1: Localization of the dierent sectors in the St. Lawrence River and Estuary Map representing the South of the Canadian province of Qubec, it shows the dierent parts of the e St. Lawrence River and Estuary established by EC (2009).

The tides of the St. Lawrence Estuary are dominated by semi-diurnal oscillation with average period of 12 h and 25 min (DFO, 1997). The tides are mixed and the Estuary acts as a hypersynchronous estuary (Figure 1.2). Within the Fluvial Estuary, the tidal inuence gradually 5

Chapter 1. St. Lawrence River and Estuary increases downstream, producing increased mixing of the tributary water masses and tidal reversals starting from Batiscan (EC, 2009). The water remains fresh over most of the reach. The width varies from 870 m near the Qubec City bridges to 15 km at the easternmost end e of Ile dOrlans, where water becomes brackish (EC, 2009). The average water depth of the e main channel varies from 13 to 40 m. There is a large human inuence on the Fluvial Estuary, like the Portneuf Dock and the harbours of Bcancour, Trois-Rivi`res and Qubec City. In e e e Qubec City the shorelines are almost completely degraded due to the construction of the e Champlain Boulevard and the Duerin-Montmorency highway in the early 1970s (EC, 2009).

Figure 1.2: Mean tidal range evolution in the St. Lawrence Estuary. This graph shows the mean tidal range in function of the distance from the tidal limit in Sorel [After Brochu (1960)] and shows that the St. Lawrence can be classied as a hypersynchronous estuary.

Fresh and saltwater mixing mainly occurs in the Upper Estuary, between the easternmost point of Ile dOrlans and the mouth of the Saguenay River (150 km). The salinity levels e are respectively 2 and 30 PSU (Practical Salinity Units). The tidal forces in this section are strong and the water is highly turbid due to sediment resuspension (EC, 2009). The river is also wide (mean 17 km) and reaches a depth of 100 m. The Marine Estuary is even deeper, it begins at the head of the Laurentian Channel, an underwater valley of more than 350 m depth (EC, 2009). The downstream border of this very wide section is located at the meridian 64 30 W near Ile dAnticosti, as this is the Western limit of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This limit was set by the IHO (1953). Thorp et al. (2005) mentioned that the temperatures and precipitation in the valley of the St. Lawrence River are more stable than for rivers situated farther inland because of the inuences of the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. For Qubec City the average precipitation e per year is 923.8 mm and the mean monthly temperature ranges from -12.8 in January to 19.2 in July (EC, 2010). The most frequent wind direction is South-West, but gusting winds 6

Chapter 1. St. Lawrence River and Estuary come mostly from West (EC, 2010). As a consequence of the seasonal temperature pattern that is shown in Figure 1.3, the River is at least partially ice covered during the winter season.

Figure 1.3: Graph showing the monthly average precipitation (bars) and temperature (line) at the Jean-Lesage International Airport in Qubec City. For the values of precipitation, snow e was converted into rain equivalents. The values are means of at least 20 years of observations. Data was obtained from the online climate database of EC (EC, 2010).

1.4

Estuary Ice

In the classication of clastic coasts, shown in Figure 1.4, estuaries are situated in an intermediate position. This because they are aected by river, wave and tidal factors (Masselink and Hughes, 2003). Dalrymple et al. (1992) saw that an estuary can be divided longitudinally in three zones, each with a unique energy regime, sediment type and morphology. River processes dominate the estuary head, while unimportant at the estuary entrance, whereas marine processes, like waves and tides predominate at the entrance and are minor at the estuary head. Considering these processes, the energy regime in the outer estuary is marinedominiated, while it is river-dominated in the uvial estuary, the upper estuary has a mixed energy regime, with marine and river processes. Desplanque and Bray (1986) found that for ice processes in macrotidal estuaries, the same zonation can be assumed. As a consequence, estuary ice will combine the characteristics of river and sea ice. Therefore ice processes in both environments should be looked at in order to nd out how ice on the tidal ats of a uvial estuary is formed. A comparison of ice processes in dierent estuaries is almost impossible, because the processes depend on many dierent

Chapter 1. St. Lawrence River and Estuary aspects causing that the ice processes are always unique. Therefore the next paragraph describes the generalized ice processes in the St. Lawrence River. This description is used as a steppingstone for what follows.

Figure 1.4: Conceptual classication of coastal depositional environments [Modied from Dalrymple et al. (1992)]. The three edges of the prism correspond to conditions dominated by uvial, wave and tidal processes. Estuaries are found in an intermediate position because they are inuenced by all three processes.

1.4.1

St. Lawrence River and Estuary During Winter

Ice formation and break-up on the St. Lawrence River is of great interest because of its length and socio-economic-environmental importance. The ice conditions of the Estuary are surveyed about three times a week. The ice charts are primarily meant as an aid to navigation, but they are also a very useful source of information to monitor ice conditions and ice evolution. The St. Lawrence is a huge system and therefore ice processes vary greatly. Before the formation of a continuous ice cover on the shallow Fluvial Lakes (see section 1.3.1), especially on Lake St. Louis and Lake des Deux Montagnes, which is actually a part of the Ottawa River, large quantities of oating ice sheets are generated. Transported downstream by the river current, they are broken up through the rapids near Montral, where frazil ice and anchor e ice are formed. They then become part of the heterogeneous ice mix that drifts downstream. The ice oes can increase in thickness and in concentration as they move down the River Section. Ice processes in the River section act as in any other major northern river. The drift ice then reaches Lake St. Pierre, the last uvial lake with a typical depth of 3 m (except for the dredged navigating channel, 12 m deep). In the shallow portions of this Lake the quickly formed ice cover is held in place with ice booms and articial islands. The incoming ice oes drift downstream through the deep navigation channel. During adverse wind conditions and 8

Chapter 1. St. Lawrence River and Estuary because of the small river slope, this reach is particularly susceptible to ice jam formation (Morse, 2009). Within the Fluvial Estuary, large tidal ats are found on which the drift ice can get stranded and ice walls can build-up. Vast amounts of ice are formed on the tidal ats, where currents are less strong and the cooling processes are faster than in the deeper main channel (Brochu, 1960). The ice on the tidal ats can break up partially during the winter season due to dierent causes and it can act as an ice feed for the Upper and Lower estuary and the Gulf. The detachment of the tidal at ice inuences the concentration of drift ice in the main channel (Brochu, 1960), what can hamper navigation. In the Upper and Lower estuary drift ice consists primarily of very large oes. The combination of cold weather and unfavorable wind conditions can augment the ice concentrations and thickness in the downstream reaches of the Estuary to signicant levels. Navigation is of utmost importance for the regions economic development. Therefore the St. Lawrence River needs to stay open for navigation during winter. This means that open channel conditions have to be maintained by the navigating ships that are backed up by the ice-breakers of the CCG. Passing vessels exert a certain inuence on the fast ice in the river. The eect of ship trac on fast ice in Lake St. Pierre was investigated by Stander et al. (2005). He suggested that ship draft, length and speed, which are the parameters that control the wave making capability of a vessel (Gates and Herbich, 1977), together control fracture development at the shore ice edge. It is important to keep the fast ice sheet in Lake St. Pierre stable, as spalling ice oes can damage passing ships or can initiate ice jams (Stander et al., 2005). It is clear that ice processes in the dierent sections of the St. Lawrence River are interconnected. The way that the Fluvial Estuary inuences the ice conditions of the Upper and Lower Estuaries and the Gulf is described by Brochu (1960). He concluded that the further downstream, the later ice will appear. He also found that alternating abnormal warm temperatures followed by cold periods are favorable for the ice feed of the downstream parts of the St. Lawrence Estuary like the Maritime Estuary and the Gulf. This in contrast to winters with constant cold temperatures, when the ice feed is much less pronounced.

Chapter 2

Ice Growth and Decay

The previous chapter demonstrated the interconnection of processes between the dierent sections of the St. Lawrence River. In current chapter, the ice formation in each of the dierent sections is examined. In the Fluvial Lakes static ice formation is found, while in the river section dynamic ice formation is predominant. Because in the Estuary the sea really interacts with the river, shore ice development on strand plains is also discussed.

2.1

Static Ice Formation

Static ice formation is the predominant process in calm waters like slow owing rivers and lakes, such as the Fluvial Lakes of the St. Lawrence. When the velocity is less than 0.5 m/s, intermixing of the top layer with the underlying layers is inhibited (Ashton, 1986). This allows for the development of important temperature dierences within a cross section. This stratication can be vertical, but also horizontally, away from the banks. The top layer can get supercooled and ice crystals will nucleate at the water surface in the form of ice needles (Michel, 1978). The needles will grow in the supercooled layer and are able to form a continuous ice plate at the surface. Another origin of plate ice is a snow fall in calm water close to the freezing point, but only when this is followed by suciently cold weather to refreeze the snow at the top. The growth rate of a static ice cover is discussed by Ashton (1986). When the thickness of the existing solid ice sheet and that of a snow layer on top of the ice sheet are taken into account and if it is assumed that the temperature at the snow surface is that of the air, a heat transfer equation can describe the growth of ice. 1 Ts Ta dh = dt L h/ki + hs /ks + 1/Ha (2.1)

10

Chapter 2. Ice Growth and Decay where:

= ki = ks = L= h= hs = Ha = Ta = Ts =

density of solid ice (kg/m3 ) thermal conductivity of ice (W/m ) average coecient of thermal conductivity of the snow (W/m ) latent heat of fusion of the ice (J/kg) thickness of the solid ice sheet at time t (m) thickness of the snow cover (m) heat transfer coecient between air and the ice surface (W/ ) air temperature ( ) temperature of the top surface of the ice ( )

Michel (1978) notes that this formula will always give an overestimation of the ice thickness. The reason herefore is that no solar radiation is incorporated in the formula nor the boundary layer that develops at the upper snow-air surface is accounted for. But the most important reason is that this formula oversimplies the ice growth process. Due to the weight of the snow cover, cracks appear through which water will move as the snow drowns the solid ice cover. This occurs especially after a heavy snowstorm. Water will penetrate through the cracks and will saturate the snow layer until a new buoyancy equilibrium is set. In the water-saturated layer, snow ice and snow slush are formed. The ultimate build-up of dierent layers when snow falls on black ice, which is transparent solid ice, is depending on the amount and timing of the successive snow falls (Morse et al., 2006b), an example is shown in Figure 2.1.

snow snow ice snow slush black ice

water

Figure 2.1: Example of a possible build-up of ooded snow lying on a fractured ice sheet. The ice cover is build-up out of four dierent layers. From the water surface to the air, a snow layer, a snow ice layer, a snow slush layer and a black ice layer are dierentiated.

11

Chapter 2. Ice Growth and Decay Because prediction of the snow-ice and black ice growth in rivers and lakes is complex, the Stefan-formula (Eq. 2.2) is mostly used for engineering purposes to calculate the total growth of solid ice. In this equation, h is the thickness of the ice sheet in meter and ranges between 0.6 to 0.8 (Ashton, 1986). S is the number of degree-days of freezing, which is a measure for the thermal history. Generally S is dened as the sum of the daily mean temperatures in degrees Celsius. h = 0.35 S (2.2)

2.2

Ice Cover Formation in Large Rivers

River ice formation is dierent from lake ice formation because of the turbulence in the owing water. The development of an ice cover in rivers is preceded by an intricate series of ice formation processes. Those processes are thoroughly described by Michel (1978) and Ashton (1986). It begins with frazil ice production through nucleation in turbulent supercooled waters. Frazil ice is said to be active, because it has surface properties that enables it to adhere to objects or other ice crystals (Daly, 1984). This property leads to the formation of anchor ice and frazil ocs. The clusters of frazil ice tend to rise to the stream surface when turbidity is reduced, there they concentrate and form frazil slush, a water saturated, granular ice suspension (Ashton, 1986). Due to the continuing heat exchange with the atmosphere, the concentration of frazil slush gets denser and ice cakes and oes are formed. The slush ice is solidied from the top down and it continues to thicken downwards. Because the bond between anchor ice and the bed is rarely long lived, also the anchor ice can get incorporated in the overlying ice cover, together with the sediment attached to it. This formation process is shown in Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2: The evolution of frazil ice to cake ice in a river [Modied from Michel (1978)]. This gure is an illustration of how active frazil particles formed in a supercooled environment can adhere to frazil ocks and evolve via slush ice to cake ice. The gure shows also that when frazil particles contact the river bed, anchor ice can be formed.

12

Chapter 2. Ice Growth and Decay Whether an ice cover may be built from frazil cluster, oes and other pieces of oating ice is highly dependent on the hydraulic conditions (Ashton, 1986). In large northern rivers the ice cover is usually formed by the dynamic accumulation of ice slush, pan ice and oes. When those dierent ice sorts drift to a barrier, either a man-made structure or an existing ice cover, the oes may either be stopped or be swept under it by the currents. In the rst case, when the drift ice is stopped, the ice cover will progress upstream through ice accumulation. This ice formation mechanism is referred to as juxtaposition. Before winter navigation, an ice cover in the low velocity stretches could advance more than 40 km a day due to this proces (Michel, 1978).

2.3

Ice in the Shore Zone

There are numerous publications on ice occurrence and phenomena near shores. In almost every publication the term icefoot appears. Dionne (1973), who researched the tidal ats and tidal marshes of the St. Lawrence River, bundled the dierent published denitions and classications, which have an obvious lack of unity and are even ambiguous. The only noted consistency is the fact that the icefoot corresponds to a fringe of ice on the shore. In what follows the nomenclature published by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO, 1970) is adopted, this because of its general currency and because the Canadian Ice Service (CIS) has adopted this nomenclature to describe the ice features seen on the St. Lawrence River. The reason why so many dierent denitions exist is because of the extraordinary variety of ice features on cold-coasts. Here a general description of shore ice processes is given. The timing of freeze-up on cold-coasts is function of the temperature, wind, snow, waves, tides and the nature of the shoreline (Houston, 2005). The moment when the temperature of water, salt or fresh, is lowered to the value which at it freezes, ice can be formed on the shores of the cold-coasts. Although ice features and processes on cold-coasts are highly variable, Forbes and Taylor (1994) described a shore-normal zonation. From the shore seaward, this consists typically of bottomfast ice, with a hinge zone of shore parallel cracks along the outer edge, oating shorefast ice and drifting pack ice. Forbes and Taylor (1994) add that in many cases, slush ice and open water occur further oshore and that the local and regional variation in the character of this zonation depend on coastal topography, tides, waves, weather conditions and the presence of old ice during freez-up. In microtidal settings and in lakes the hinge zones are poorly developed, but in macrotidal environments, the hinge zone is characterized by a wide band of broken ice blocks that repeatedly ground and oat with each successive tide (Gordon and Desplanque, 1981). Wiseman et al. (1981) conrmed the dependence of the icefoot morphology on the underlying topography (both subaqueous and subaerial), the input of mechanical energy (e.g. waves, 13

Chapter 2. Ice Growth and Decay tides and surges) and the thermal history of the area during the cold season (e.g. freeze-thaw cycles, freez-up period, etc.). Topography is indeed of great inuence on the morphology of shore ice, as it inuences the longshore distribution of wave energy. But according to Wiseman et al. (1981), the predominant topographic eect is the shore ice width. They concluded that for a given range of water levels, waves and tides: the lower the topographic slope, the wider the ice formation on the shore. The input of mechanical energy determines the height of the ice in the shore zone. Higher tidal ranges or waves imply higher ice features (Wiseman et al., 1981).The inuence of storm waves will be highly noticeable when a shore in a protected bay is compared with an exposed shore. Wiseman et al. (1981) do not mention the inuence of wind on the morphology, while wind is very important in ridge formations and thus in the morphology of shore ice (Taylor, 1978). The thermal history has a logical inuence on the persistence of the shore ice and determines the timing and duration of freez-up and break-up.

2.4
2.4.1

Ice on the Tidal Flats

Growth

As on shores, the ice on the tidal ats can roughly be subdivided into two zones. Close to the land, bottomfast ice is found, which accords following the WMO (1970) nomenclature to the icefoot, which was dened as a narrow fringe of ice attached to the coast, unmoved by tides and remaining after the fast ice has moved away. Further oshore, shorefast ice that is alternately stranded and aoat during successive tidal cycles is observed. The icefoot and the shorefast ice have a dierent origin and formation process. The icefoot build-up in wave dominated shores or strand plains (see Figure 1.4) occurs through the addition of spray, swash, slush ice and ice oes that are brought by waves and tides. In tide dominated shores, like the shores of the St. Lawrence Estuary, the build-up often begins with an accumulation of slush and frazil ice pushed on to the beaches by currents (Dionne, 1973; Allard et al., 1998). A mixture of young ice forms the initial basis at the upper part of the tidal at. Afterwards the icefoot can gradually grow due to congelation of water from the swash (Taylor, 1978). An other way of icefoot build-up is described by Short and Wiseman (1974) and Dionne (1973), namely through the accumulation of cake ice, delivered by currents, waves or left stranded after the ebb tide. The latter author added that the second formation process can be more rapid than the rst. The shorefast ice build-up is also discussed by Dionne (1973), who postulated that it can be formed in two ways. The rst mentioned is by direct freezing of the water surface in sheltered sections. The result of this formation process is a homogeneous ice cover with ice of the same

14

Chapter 2. Ice Growth and Decay age. The second process described is the agglomeration of ice blocks and small ridges of slush accumulated on the shore by the combined action of wind and tide and then cemented by water. The initial shorefast ice presents an irregular and chaotic surface, which smoothens due to weathering, snowfall and interstitial water. During the winter season, the shorefast ice can thicken from below by congelation of water at the base at ebb tide. It can also grow via water congelation at the surface, when the ice is submerged during the high (spring) tides. The morphology of the tidal at ice varies with shore gradient, tidal range and formation process. On a gently sloping shore with high tidal range a wide icefoot and a wide shorefast ice cover is favored. The dependance of topography, mechanical energy input and thermal history as described by Wiseman et al. (1981) and discussed in Section 2.3, is probably also true for the tidal ats in estuaries.

2.4.2

Decay

The break-up of an estuary ice cover is initiated due to a mechanical process that will occur if the (spring) tides are stronger than the mechanical resistance of the ice sheet (Morse et al., 2006b; Troude and Serodes, 1988; Dionne, 1973). Obviously, the meteorological conditions are also important, because it inuences the mechanical resistance and the in-situ melting of the ice. By denition, the icefoot lasts longer than the shorefast ice. It breaks up through reduction and in-place thawing. The icefoot is less under inuence of the dismantling forces of tides, wind and waves, than the shorefast ice. The melt is induced by the sun, rain, running water from the melting of the snow cover and sometimes from water mining from below (Dionne, 1973). Brochu (1960) found two processes that result in respectively marginal and massive detachments of shorefast ice. The rst, which are sporadic detachments, are found at the outer edge of the shorefast ice. Its extent depends on tidal and wind conditions (Troude and Serodes, 1988). Its result is the continuous narrowing of the shorefast ice cover. The second mechanism coincides normally with spring tides at the end of the ice season (Dionne, 1973). Due to the rising tide and the diminished mechanical strength, the ice cover is broken up, dislodging ice oes of various size, which are carried out to the sea with the ebb tide. Once dislodged, a loosened pack of shorefast ice has an unpredictable future. It can can get stranded again on the same tidal at or on another (upstream or downstream). If it got stranded, it can melt in place or can be taken into the stream by a following (higher) tide. When the shorefast ice melts, it gets smaller and thus it is more easily brought aoat and carried out of the tidal at by the following tide.

15

Chapter 3

Eects of an Estuary Ice Cover

Ice determines to a great extent, the ongoing processes in the estuaries. Almost every aspect or characteristic is inuenced by the presence of ice. How ice inuences the hydrodynamics and estuary characteristics and how ice can play a role in the survival of organisms or the sediment transport is addressed in this chapter.

3.1

Ice Inuence on Estuary Hydraulics and Characteristics

In order to reach equilibrium the estuary must adjust its levels, slope, velocities and discharge according to the imposed inuence of ice features in the estuary. Also the timing phase of the water levels and the discharges will adjust themselves as the estuary becomes generally more sluggish in winter (Morse et al., 2006a).

3.1.1

Ice Inuence on Hydrodynamics

Ice build-up in an estuary is quite unique. The physical character can be inuenced in many dierent ways. An illustration of one of those inuences is the build-up of ice walls in macrotidal estuaries. Desplanque and Bray (1986) described the case of Memramcook River and the Petitcodiac River in which those walls can reach a height of about 5 m. The normal trapezoidal cross section with slopes in the order of 1 V: 3.5 H, changes into a rectangular cross section with about the same bottom width (see Figure 3.1). As a consequence, the volume of the tidal prism, dened as the volume of water between high and low tide, and the associated ow rates are substantially reduced in comparison to the ice free cross section. Even when there are no tidal walls observed, a signicant and diverse eect on the hydrodynamics is possible. Morse et al. (2006a) described the case of the Portneuf Estuary, a 5.9 km long mesotidal estuary in Qubec, Canada with a continuous ice cover. Near the upstream e end of this estuary, a 0.5 m thick fast ice cover was found to attenuate the neap tidal range 16

Chapter 3. Eects of an Estuary Ice Cover

Figure 3.1: Figure showing how the ice-free trapezoidal outline can change to a rectangular form due to ice inuences in a macrotidal estuary. LT= low tide; HT= high tide [Modied from Desplanque and Bray (1986)]

(1.9 m) by 17%, while spring tidal range (4.0 m) was reduced by 37%. Furthermore, the arrival of low water was delayed because of the presence of the ice cover by about 1.5 hours. At the mouth, both the peak ebb tide ow (200 m3 /s) and ood tide ow (500 m3 /s) were attenuated by 18% and 13% respectively. Further, the peak ood ow was normally delayed by 41 min, but the ebb tide was usually advanced by 8 min. They also noted that in general, the ice cover attenuated peak velocities by 12 to 20%, although at certain times and locations the ice cover could induce higher velocities than would be present under open water conditions.

3.1.2

Hydraulics of Ice Covered Channel

A specic velocity prole develops in ice covered rivers. In the presence of an ice cover that acts as a secondary boundary at the water surface, the velocity prole is no longer logarithmic with the minimum velocity near the bed and the maximum near the surface as seen in open channel rivers. It is now more parabolic in nature, depending on the relative roughness of each surface (see Figure 3.2). Minimum velocity values are found at both the bed and the ice cover and maximum velocity values are found in the core of the cross section (Ashton, 1986; Morse et al., 2005). The mean velocity is thus lowered and the tidal waves attenuated. The development of an ice cover increases the resistance to ow. First, the ice cover increases the wetted perimeter on which shear stress operates, so for the same ow depth the hydraulic radius is signicantly reduced. Secondly, the roughness of the undersurface of the ice cover can increase the value of the channel resistance. Third, the ice cover considerably reduces the cross-sectional area. In order to estimate the inuence of the ice cover on resistance to ow and conveyance capacity of a complete ice covered river channel, the Manning equation (Eq. 3.1) is employed (Chow, 1959). 17

Chapter 3. Eects of an Estuary Ice Cover

Q = AV = where Q= A= V = nt = Rh = P = Sf =

1 1 2 2 3 Rh Sf A nt

(3.1)

ow rate in the channel (m3 /s) cross-sectional area of the channel (m2 ) mean velocity in the channel (m/s) composite resistance coecient or Manning coecient hydraulic radius A/P (m) wetted perimeter (m) slope of energy gradient (m/m)

For a wide rectangular stream nt can be calculated by the Sabaneev equation (Ashton, 1986): 1 + (ni /nb ) 2 2 nt 3 = (3.2) nb 2 Here ni and nb are the Manning coecients of respectively the ice and the bottom layer. This equation shows that a doubling of the wetted perimeter P will induce a 37 % reduction of the conveyance capacity of the channel (Q).
3

Figure 3.2: longitudinal velocity prole of an ice-covered channel [Modied from Ashton (1986)]. The total ow cross section is divided into an upper ice zone (index=i) and a lower bed zone (index=b). The two zones have a surface of maximal velocities in common. Other symbols are as in common use.

3.1.3

Hydrodynamics of a Tidal Flat

These hydraulic principles give some insight in ice covered channels. The question is now how these processes interact at the border of a large estuary, such as the St. Lawrence Estuary. 18

Chapter 3. Eects of an Estuary Ice Cover During ice free conditions and at high tides, signicant ow can be found over the tidal ats (Morse et al., 2006a). In winter the tidal ats can get congested with ice and snow. The occurrence of ice in the tidal ats directly decreases the cross sectional area available for water transport. During low tides the blocks rest on the tidal at, where they are exposed to the harsh cold. When the frost penetrates, ice can get anchored to the sediment or to the vegetation (Dionne, 1973). When the tide rises, water invades the tidal ats. Some blocks stay aground and others incorporate sediment and start oating later, therefore the ice on the tidal at forms many heterogeneous even chaotic ice features and layers. The composite Manning resistance coecient can increase signicantly due to the ice cover roughness (see Eq. 3.2), but also the hydraulic radius (Rh =A/P ) of a ow underneath the ice cover on tidal ats will decrease. The latter is caused by the doubling of the wetted perimeter (P ). As a consequence of all those dierent processes, the conveyance capacity decreases and the main channel has to transport virtually all the water in and out of the estuary. This implies that during winter, the velocities in the main channel can be larger than their summer values, even though the tidal discharge in winter is smaller than in summer. An other aspect of the ice build-up on the tidal ats is a reduction in tidal prism, which is dened as the volume of water that has to leave the estuary during ebb tide. This can be explained by the change in storage function of the tidal ats. Assume a tidal at where during summer a volume Vs is stored during high tides. When ice is present, the incoming volume during rising tide is reduced by a volume Vi . This volume is the sum of the submerged volume of the shorefast ice and the icefoot (see Figure 3.3). During winter, the stored volume of water, Vw is then equal to Vs Vi . Furthermore, during the ebbing tide, not the complete volume of water moves away from the tidal ats as seen during ice free conditions. Water remains trapped in pools and ssures and can easily freeze (Morse et al., 2006a). These two processes diminish water transport in and out of the tidal ats and can result in an impact on the discharge dynamics of the estuary.

3.1.4

Ice Covers and Waves

Waves are an important medium of energy transfer in an estuary. The inuence of the ice cover on the wind-generated waves is twofold. It halts local wave generation and it dampens the incoming waves that build-up elsewhere. The local wave generation is stopped as the ice cover shields the water body from wind. The damping of incoming waves is due to the inhibition of propagation of the waves under the ice cover (Macdonald and Yu, 2006). All those smaller processes change together one of the most important characteristics of estuaries, 19

Chapter 3. Eects of an Estuary Ice Cover

shore
HW

LW

Vs Vi
HW

LW

shorefast ice Vw

icefoot

Figure 3.3: Dierence in water storage on tidal ats during summer and winter. The storage of water on the tidal ats changes due to the presence of ice. During summer a volume Vs ows to the tidal ats at each successive tide. During winter this volume is reduced by the submerged volume of the shorefast ice and the volume of the icefoot, Vi . Thus the volume of storage in winter, Vw is equal to Vs Vi .

namely the mixing of salt and fresh water. Whether an estuary is stratied, partially-mixed or well-mixed is determined by the eectiveness of molecular diusion and turbulent mixing (Masselink and Hughes, 2003). Waves play an important role in this mixing, next to currents and tides. As a consequence of the decrease in wave generation and the wave damping in presence of an ice cover, the mixing also diminishes. When the ice induced changes in tidal prism and currents are added up to this process the reduction in mixing can be important. When this reduction in mixing is signicant enough, the estuary can get stratied and a fresh water plume can penetrate further in to the receiving water body (Ingram and Larouche, 1987). This process could be important for St. Lawrence Upper and Lower Estuary, where the mixing between fresh and salt water occurs.

3.2

Eect on Biota

It is shown that environmental conditions determine in large extent the distribution and community organization of biota (Barnes, 1999). The shores of northern estuaries are harsh living environments for organisms. They are not only exposed to ice, organisms have to seek protection or adapt living styles to withstand against wave action and the resultant reworking of the sediment, desiccation, dewatering, bioturbation and predation. Furthermore, there are

20

Chapter 3. Eects of an Estuary Ice Cover changes in temperature, in light and in salinity. The latter is due to ice formation, evaporation, precipitation or river run-o (Gutt, 2001). The review of Gutt (2001) shows also that the inuence of ice in the intertidal zone on benthic communities can be anywhere from overwhelming to unimportant. The nal impact is function of the substrate and the species. The relative importance of ice disturbance on benthic communities in the shorelines of cold-regions, must be considered in comparison to the disturbance exerted by wave action and currents. The impact is dependent on the scale, intensity and the frequency of the dierent disturbing factors. Barnes (1999) summarized the disturbance sources to polar benthic communities from the southern temperate to the high Antarctic. For the southern temperate, he found that the disturbance of wave action and currents is of major inuence, while river runo and trampling by seal populations has a mild inuence, of minor inuence is ice scour, icefoot and fast ice. During winter, the shore or tidal at ice cover protects the underlying sediments against erosion and waves and the cold air temperature, but when it disintegrates a lot of hard and soft material can be rafted away. Organisms can thus seek protection during winter, but during break-up their habitat can be disintegrated by the ice. Of utmost importance is the thermal inuence of the ice cover. The work of Partridge (2001) and Scrosati and Eckersley (2007) leaves no doubt in the insulation properties of an icefoot, the latter authors noted that temperatures of an icefoot in the southern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, never got below -7 , even when air temperatures dropped below -20 . They saw that these values are higher than published values of lethal temperature for cold-water intertidal invertebrates and seaweeds. Thus, concluded that in this case the icefoot may prevent these organisms from experiencing lethal levels of thermal stress. However Partridge (2001) argues that the re-oating of ice which has frozen to the sediment results in the removal of portions of the sediment surface and its infaunal inhabitants. It can be concluded that the icefoot and shorefast ice are thus contributing to long-term persistence of intertidal invertebrates in these environmentally stressful habitats.

3.3

Eect on Sediment Transport

The inuence of ice on the morpho-sedimentology of a tidal at environment is of signicant importance. The processes associated are thoroughly investigated and reported in many papers and reviews in almost all parts of cold regions around the world (Marsh et al., 1973; Short and Wiseman, 1974; Taylor, 1978; Wiseman et al., 1981; Allard et al., 1998; Johnson, 2007). Forbes and Taylor (1994) made an excellent review about the geomorphological relevance of ice in the shore zone. For the St. Lawrence River and Estuary, the abundant work of Jean-Claude Dionne is particularly important (Dionne, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1985, 1989, 1998) 21

Chapter 3. Eects of an Estuary Ice Cover but Troude and Serodes (1988) also made a contribution. During the ice season, the icefoot is found to protect the shore against the erosive power of currents, tides, waves, ship wakes and physico-chemical and biological erosive processes (Dionne, 1985). This has as a consequence that the annual longshore sediment transport remain below its potential due to wave-action at the shore (Wiseman et al., 1981). Macdonald and Yu (2006) saw that in an open-water area with a fully developed wave eld the vertical mixing and resuspension of sediment was enhanced, whereas an ice cover eectively dampens waves and sediment resuspension. The result is a relatively slow evolution of cold-regions shorelines (Dionne, 1969). Next to the protective role, the tidal at ice can also be an eective agent of erosion, transport and sedimentation. Debris can be transported out of the tidal ats and evacuating ice can erode or directly scour the unconsolidated surfaces. Another phenomenon is that the currents under the shorefast ice are reduced in magnitude, which enhances local sedimentation of ne particles during winter (Troude and Serodes, 1988). Sometimes, as shown by Marsh et al. (1973) in the Lake Superior icefoot, the incorporated sediments can be resuspended due to the turbulence created by waves as they crash into the ice ridge, what makes the involved processes even more complex. Horizontal motion of ice in contact with the beach and nearshore bottom can explain a variety of geomorphic features found on cold-coasts, including grooved scour marks, ice-pushed ridges and levees, cobble pavements and boulder ramparts. Forbes and Taylor (1994) reviewed the involved processes and literature about these features that are caused by ice scour and shoreward thrusting. The inuence of ice on the geomorphology is even more diverse. Ice rafting is found to be the explanation of the presence of drift deposits in cold-coasts. An example that results of such deposits is the formation of boulder barricades and boulder ats (Forbes and Taylor, 1994). The rst is dened as an elongated row of boulders that ank the coastline, separated from the shore by an intertidal at(Fox, 2005). The second is a tidal at strewn with boulders (Forbes and Taylor, 1994). For boulder barricades, Fox (2005) argued that tides and winds are the major transport mechanisms. He further noted that the formation of boulder barricades requisite four conditions: a rocky coastal setting, sucient winter ice, water-level uctuations to entrain boulders in ice rafts and a distinct slope break in the nearshore zone. He added that without the last condition, boulders will be deposited as boulder ats. Sediment incorporation in ice blocks can be signicant. In a research of a subarctic microtidal environment, Allard et al. (1998) reported volumetric sediment contents as high as 11 %. When ice blocks incorporate a huge amount of sediment, they can get neutral or even 22

Chapter 3. Eects of an Estuary Ice Cover negatively buoyant. The rst can pose problems for energy projects that want to harvest the tidal energy of ice infested water bodies as the Bay of Fundy in Canada. The instream tidal current harvesting devices can be engineered to avoid contact with oating ice, but are hard to protect against the possible collision with subsurface ice (Sanders et al., 2008). As a general conclusion, it can be stated that tidal at ice is of signicant importance in morpho-sedimentological processes in cold regions.

23

Part II

Material and Methods

24

Chapter 4

Study Area
The Fuvial Estuary of the St. Lawrence extends from the downstream terminus of Lake St. Pierre to the easternmost point of Ile dOrlans. The largest tidal ats in this part of e the River are located on the south shores. The largest tidal ats of the north shores are those downstream of Qubec City and those in the section between Batiscan and Portneuf. e The tidal ats are characterized by boulders, that form boulder barricades or boulder ats. These geomorphologic features are a direct result of the grounding of boulder-laden ice rafts on the tidal ats during break-up (Rosen, 1979). The tidal ats of the Fluvial Estuary can be subdivided in three zones, according to the classication of Masselink and Hughes (2003). The rst is the subtidal zone, which is almost always submerged and conveys water at all stages of the tide. The second is the intertidal zone, which is bounded between mean low water and mean high water. The last zone is the supratidal zone, which is only submerged during spring high tides and is therefore mostly exposed to the air.

Figure 4.1: Location of dierent cities along the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary.

In order to investigate the growth and decay of tidal at ice in the Fluvial Estuary of the St. Lawrence River, two sites were selected: Lotbini`re and Qubec City. In Qubec City, e e e both the north and the south shore were examined, while at Lotbini`re only the south shore e was documented.

25

Chapter 4. Study Area

The site selection took the tidal range, the extent and the natural state of the tidal at in consideration. The selected sites had to have a signicant dierence in tidal range relative to each other. Qubec City was chosen because it lies in a river section with a high mean e tidal range (5.2 m) and because it was easily accessible. Lotbini`re has a signicantly dife ferent mean tidal range (3.0 m) and is, apart form a small dock and some shore protections, in a fairly natural state. The tidal ats in Qubec City are drastically changed by human e structures as the Champlain Boulevard, the Sillery marina and harbor infrastructures on the north shore and the Ultramar Wharf and the Lvis marina on the south shore. e

4.1
4.1.1

Characteristics of the Selected Sites

Lotbini`re e

The tidal ats of Lotbini`re are formed in an indentation of the river banks. The intertidal e zone is very wide (> 700 m). The tidal at consists of hard bedrock, almost without any sand or silt. In this part of the River, the navigation channel is very narrow and boulder barricades are found at the edge of the tidal at. The vegetation pattern corresponds to the general description the SLC (2010) gave for the tidal ats of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary. They saw that in the Fluvial Estuary, the subtidal and lower parts of the intertidal zone are mostly bare, while in the upper part of the intertidal zone, herbaceous vegetation with American bulrush is found. In the supratidal zone, the vegetation exists mostly of shrubs, willows, red ash and American elm. The human impact on the tidal at is small, except for a small dock, that extends approximately 170 m into the rivier and some shore protections at a municipal recreation park along the shore. The biggest human impact is probably the erosive power of the waves generated by merchant ships that have to navigate close to the shores in the narrow navigation channel. In Lotbinire the tides are characterized by a signicant tidal distortion and a diurnal ine equality in tidal range (Figure 4.2). The most signicant currents are produced by tides. Tidal reversals occur one to two hours after high water, while the maximal current speeds develop 0 to 1 hours before low water (DFO, 1997). The maximal and minimal daily water level during the 2010 winter was calculated to be 3.23 and 1.67 m above chart datum (CD). Chart datum is a local vetical datum, with as reference the lowest normal tide.

4.1.2

Qubec City e

The tidal at on the north shore is small and covers the area between Point ` Puiseaux and a the Sillery marina. There is signicantly more sand and silt in comparison to Lotbini`re. The e 26

Chapter 4. Study Area

Figure 4.2: Water level in meter above Chart Datum (CD) in Sept-Ile, Qubec City and Deschaillon e starting from 29/01/2006 00:00 till 30/01/2006 00:00 (DFO, 2010). This chart gives the water level evolution during two days for Sept-Ile near Ile dAnticosti, Qubec City e and Deschaillon, which is approximately 12 km upstream from Lotbini`re (for the loe cations see Figure 1.1 and 4.1). The Figure shows that the St. Lawrence Estuary is a hypersynchronous estuary, with clear tidal distortion.

whole area is surrounded by shores protected against erosion and by a harbor breakwater. There where the supratidal zone used to occur, a railroad and the Champlain Boulevard are constructed. Patches of tidal marshes with herbaceous vegetation are only found in what is left of the upper intertidal zone. On this muddy tidal at, some boulders are found, but no large boulder barricades. The tidal at on the south shore, near the city Lvis is much larger and wider. The shore e sides are also protected and two large structures occur, the Ultramar wharf and the Lvis e marina. The tidal at is muddy and some parts are covered with boulders. Sometimes they are organized as boulder barricades, in other parts more as a boulder at. The supratidal zone is non existent and only some stretches of the upper intertidal zone still exist. The latter are covered with herbaceous vegetation. Three rivers, among the Etchemin River, ow over the tidal at to mouth in the St. Lawrence River. The ship waves have a lesser impact on the river banks than in Lotbini`re as all the shores are protected against erosion. In this study e only the part between the mouth of the Etchemin River and the Ultramar Wharf are looked upon.

27

Chapter 4. Study Area Due to shoaling eects of the tidal wave, the tidal range in Qubec City is large (mean e spring tidal range: 6 m). The tides are also characterized by a signicant tidal distortion and a diurnal inequality. The tidal distortion is less pronounced than near Lotbini`re (see e Figure: 4.2). Morse and Richard (2009) measured the water level in function of the surface water velocity at 450 m from the left bank of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary, about 15 km upstream of Qubec City. Their results show that maximal tidal current velocities, in the e upstream and downstream direction, occur a little while after mid tide, while the velocity is zero around high and low tide. The maximal and minimal value of the daily mean water levels in the 2010 winter were respectively 3.96 and 2.10 m.

4.2

Meteorologic Conditions

The winter of 2009-2010 was extraordinarily warm in eastern Qubec (CRIACC, 2010). Tae ble 4.1 compares the meteorologic data of the 2009-2010 winter with the normals of Qubec e City (ADDF stands for accumulative degree days of freezing). The mean monthly temperatures were always above the normal temperatures and only 65% of the normal accumulation of snow was attained (CRIACC, 2010). The CCG reports that the very mild temperatures and frequent episodes of strong easterly to north-easterly winds resulted in lower than normal ice development along the east coast of Canada (CCG, 2010).
Table 4.1: Meteorological comparison of the 2009-2010 winter at the Jean-Lesage International Airport in Qubec City (EC, 2010). e Winter 2009/2010 Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Normals 1971-2000 Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Mean T ( ) 2.8 -7.2 -7.6 -5.3 0.3 Mean T ( ) -0.7 -9.1 -12.8 -11.1 -4.6 ADDF (dd/month) 5.1 226.9 240.2 155.5 34.1 ADDF (dd/month) 67.6 286.0 396.6 314.7 161.6 Mean Max T ( ) 7.1 -3.9 -3.9 -2.3 4.7 Mean Max T ( ) 2.9 -4.8 -7.9 -6.1 0.1 Mean Min T ( ) -1.6 -10.4 -11.3 -8.3 -4.1 Mean Min T ( ) -4.3 -13.4 -17.6 -16.0 -9.4 Total Precip (mm) 58.8 127.8 77.2 31.0 48.2 Total Precip (mm) 102.0 104.4 89.8 70.6 90.3

28

Chapter 5

Surveys
5.1 Material

In order to measure the thickness of the ice on the tidal ats, real time kinematic (RTK) surveys were conducted. During the surveys photographs were taken using a Canon EOS 40D camera with a 28-135 mm lens. Security was an important issue during the surveys. To minimize the risks, the data was only gathered during low water. The shorefast ice rested then on the bed and therefore the risk of getting wet was very small. During the surveys Mustang survival suits were worn, because they are highly visible, protect against the cold and would help to stay aoat in the unlikely event an ice cover with water underneath it would fail. Further, a helmet, a harness and a security cord attached to the accompanying person were used when needed (see Figure 5.1). RTK surveying is relative positioning technique that is based on carrier phase measurements of the GPS signals. The technique employs two receivers that are simultaneously tracking the same satellites. The method is suitable for surveying unknown points located not further than 15 km away of an known point (El-Rabbany, 2002). In this method, the base receiver remains on a exactly known location and is attached to a radio transmitter. The base receiver measurements and coordinates are transmitted to the rover receiver through the radio communication link. In order to nd its precise location, the rover receiver combines and processes its own GPS measurements and coordinates with those collected and transmitted by the base station. The initial ambiguity parameters are determined using a technique called on-the-y (OTF) ambiguity resolution, which is thoroughly discussed by Bossler (2010). When the ambiguity parameters are xed, the receiver can display the rover coordinates in real time. In other words, no post processing is needed. Literature reports a precision of this method in the order of centimeters (El-Rabbany, 2002). The used survey equipment is the Leica 1200 and is shown in Figure 5.1.

29

Chapter 5. Surveys

Figure 5.1: Photo of the survey equipment and the safety material. (1) base station (2) radio transmitter and antenna (3) control panel for mobile station (4) backpack conguration of the mobile station. Protection wear shown in the pictures: helmet, Mustang survival suit, harness with rope attached to partner.

5.2

Methods

The amount and thickness of the ice sheet on the tidal ats was surveyed using the RTK-GPS. To obtain this data two surveys were needed. One during ice free conditions, to survey the bathymetry and a second, when ice was present to survey the tidal at ice sheet. Because the survey area was large, the GPS was set up in backpack conguration (see Figure 5.1). The height of the antenna was precisely measured and adjusted for each survey. Further, the GPS was congured so that it took automatically every 2 m a data point. All the data points were georeferenced to the Canadian Geodetic Network to attain a higher data quality. However, the precision of the data was determined by the survey method. Because a surveyor walked with the roving station, which was in backpack conguration, the measured elevation was inuenced by his movements. Furthermore, the tidal at ice was far from level and the conditions were sometimes harsh. All this made that the precision in elevation was signicantly 30

Chapter 5. Surveys lower than the high precision provided by the used GPS. The result of these surveys was two collections of data points of which the latitude, longitude and elevation was known. After a precision selection, where only the data with a precision in order of centimeters were retained, the data was converted in UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinate System) coordinates. Further correction or smoothing of the data was not advisable, because the micro-relief of the ice cover had the same order of magnitude as the movements of the surveyor. Both surveys were conducted with exactly the same method. The data were imported into a geographic information system (GIS) and visualized by choosing as coordinate system the UTM based WGS 1984 (World Geodetic System 1984), zone 19 north. A triangulated irregular network (TIN) was constructed based on the data points and was then analyzed with the available GIS-tools. The used GIS-software was ArcGis.

31

Chapter 6

Photographic Monitoring
6.1 Material

The growth and decay of tidal at ice is highly dynamic. To be able to monitor the ongoing processes, photographic monitoring was applied. Three cameras per location were mounted in the steeples of the St. Louis Church in Lotbini`re and the St. Michel Church in Sillery, e Qubec City. Those localities were ideal, as the bell towers had a good view over the tidal e ats, were accessible and secure for the equipment and because a power supply was available. Three Canon 20D digital still cameras were controlled by a Siemens Logo! Module that was programmed to take pictures every 15 minutes. Canon 20Ds were chosen because they can be controlled by a shutter cable and can be connected to an external power supply. The shutter cable exist of three wires (ground, shutter and focus). The trigger mechanism is based on the fact that the camera takes a picture when the shutter-ground circuit is closed, it can then turn o automatically after 1 min, but can be turned on again by closing the focus-ground circuit. The triggering of the focus will not inuence the camera settings when the lens is set on manual focus. The pictures were saved on 8 Gb memory cards. The shutter mechanism will then take a picture every 15 min when it follows the next cycle: camera is turned on by closing the focus-ground circuit, a picture is taken when the shutterground circuit is closed, the camera automatically turns o after one minute, 15 min after the photo was taken, the camera is turned on again by closing the focus-ground circuit, etc. The power was supplied via the electrical grid (110V) and converted to the correct voltages. The intervalometer and the cameras work with 12 V and 7.6 V respectively. All the dierent wire connections or extensions were soldered and sealed against humidity (Figure 6.1, I). All the dierent parts were organized in a cooler, which holds the heat produced by the converters and so protects the intervalometer against the cold (Figure 6.1, III). The electrical diagram is shown in Figure 6.1, the batteries, who were included in the circuit as back up during possible 32

Chapter 6. Photographic Monitoring power supply interruptions, are not shown. To protect the cameras against the environmental conditions a rain cover was used and the camera lenses were protected by UV-lters. The cameras had to be rmly attached so they would not move during the winter storms. The nal installation in both churches is shown in Figure 6.2.

Figure 6.1: I: electrical diagram of photographic monitoring installation, II: dierent parts of the intervalometer, III: organization of the dierent parts in a cooler.

6.2

Methods

In a month of 30 days, each camera took 2880 pictures. Due to the limited storage capacity of the memory cards, the pictures had to be downloaded to a hard drive at regular intervals. The cameras were trained to the tidal ats. Although the cameras were mounted high, approximately 56 m above mean sea level in Lotbini`re and and 85 m above mean sea level in e 33

Chapter 6. Photographic Monitoring

Figure 6.2: I: Final installation of cameras in the steeples of the St. Michel Church in Sillery, cameras C1S, C2S, C3S and II: the St. Louis Church Lotbini`re, cameras C1L, C2L, C3L. e

Qubec City, it was not possible to attain a general camera view of both shores. Figures 6.4 e and 6.5 show the dierent camera views from both towers during low water.

34

Chapter 6. Photographic Monitoring

6.3

Photogrammetry

The pictures were analyzed with a graphical user interface that was developed in the Matlab programming environment. Because the growth and decay of tidal at ice is highly inuenced by tides and temperatures, it is important to have access to this information for each picture. The developed graphical user interface (see Figure 6.3) enables to see directly the thermal and the tidal history of a particular picture of a complete time lapse. In addition, lines can be drawn, saved and reloaded, what can be useful to analyze the ongoing processes.

Figure 6.3: Outline of the developed graphical user interface used to analyze the obtained time-lapse photographs.

35

Chapter 6. Photographic Monitoring

36

Figure 6.4: View over the tidal ats from the steeple of the St. Michel Church in Sillery during low water, with indication of location on marine chart.

Chapter 6. Photographic Monitoring

37

Figure 6.5: View over the tidal ats from the steeple of the St. Louis Church in Lotbini`re during low water, with indication of location on marine e chart.

Part III

Results and Discussion

38

Chapter 7

Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

Tidal ats are shallow and have little thermal mass. Therefore signicant amounts of ice can quickly form locally through ecient heat exchange processes with the environment. Dierent features such as an icefoot near the banks and ice sheets that may be temporarily fastened to the shore can be formed. However, in addition to the ice formed locally, ice on tidal ats can also consist of signicant amounts of trapped ice oes that were brought in by the river. The change in amount of ice on the tidal ats at any particular moment can be determined by expressing a dynamic balance between the input and output of drift ice on the tidal at and the freeze and thaw of the tidal at ice pack (Figure 7.1).

ice growth + 4 f(T, precipitation, tides) drift ice +

1

change in tidal at ice extent

2

drift ice

f(river ice, tides, currents, wind, stage of inlling)

f(T, precipitation) ice melt

f(tides,currents,T, wind, barrier presence, stage and character of ice pack)

Figure 7.1: Illustration of the balance that determines the amount of ice on the tidal at at a particular moment during the ice season. Plus stands for an addition to the amount of tidal at ice and minus for a decrease.

The input of drift ice, a term used to designate all sorts of ice drifting in the river, is a function of the ice conditions in the main channel, the tides, the wind and the currents. Drift ice has 39

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics to get trapped on the tidal at or against a barrier before it can augment the ice extent. The drift ice input can be stopped or lessened in magnitude according to the stage of inlling of the tidal at. There will be no drift ice input in a completely inlled tidal at. The output of drift ice is aected by the tides, currents, wind and temperature of water and air, which determines the cohesion of the ice cover. Ice can only grow when water is available and is hence function of the tides. The tidal at ice can also grow with a few centimeters due to snow, winter rain or when the ice cover is partially ooded during high tides. The thaw is governed by the atmospheric and water temperatures, but also rain can induce melt. Tides rework the ice cover morphology and they are the direct cause of the formation of various specic ice features. In other words, the tides introduce a form of chaos into the tidal at ice. For the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary, the higher the tidal range, the more chaotic the ice covers nature. Minimum tidal range of the studied reach is found upstream and maximum tidal range develops near Qubec City (Figure 1.2), therefore the border ice and tidal at e ice will become more and more chaotic towards the downstream reaches. The tidal at ice dynamics are discussed in the following sections. In the next chapter, the closely related morphological aspects of the tidal at ice cover are discussed. All mentioned elevations are referenced to CD, unless otherwise mentioned.

7.1

Boulder Barricades

In the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary the formation of a tidal at ice covers starts mostly where ice can accumulate against human structures or in shallow indentations. These places are favorable for ice build-up because drift ice can be held back. Boulder barricades, situated between the main deep channel and the tidal ats, interact with drift ice and form natural ice retaining structures in the Fluvial Estuary. Boulder barricades are a common characteristic of the studied area. The largest boulder barricades are located on the hydrographic charts of the region (CHS, 2007). Where they occur, the barricades form a discontinuous ridge that is found to interact with the tidal at ice formation processes.

Boulder barricades are able to retain the ice on the tidal ats and thus block the entrance and exit of drift ice (arrow 3 in Figure 7.1). The top of the boulder barricade remained mostly above water level. For example at Lotbini`re, less than 40 % of the time, the water e level exceeds the boulder barricade. In addition, the ice has a certain thickness, so it will be held more easily on the tidal ats. This process is even more pronounced when ice blocks are deposited on top of the barricades. Those blocks can stay in place for a period of time as they are often deposited during spring tides and since successive lower tides are not able to lift and evacuate the ice blocks towards the river (see Figure 7.2). Deposited ice on the boulder barricades can initiate the formation of a tidal at ice cover, as occurred in December 2009 40

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

Figure 7.2: Top: close up of ice oes that rest on the boulder barricades of the tidal at of Deschambault (06/02/10, near low water). Bottom: ice cover build-up initiated by ice oes resting on the boulder barricades in December 2009 (Ice Chart no.: 6, 9 and 12, CCG, 2010).

near Deschambault (Figure 7.2). On December 20 a fringe of fast ice was formed on top of the boulder barricades at the edge of the tidal at. During the following days, drift ice was continuously added and by December 28 some shorefast ice was formed.

7.2

Tidal Flat at Lotbini`re e

The tidal at at Lotbinire is wide in extent and has a fairly uniform slope it is formed e in an indentation on the south shore of the Fluvial Estuary. The transition towards the river is marked by a series of boulder barricades. In full winter, the ice cover on this tidal at developed zonal patterns with dierent types of ice (Figure 7.3). Zone 1 stayed mostly unmoved by the tides and was the rst to develop and the last to disappear. Zone 2 functioned as a hinge between the xed icefoot and the shorefast ice and was only moved vertically at high water. Zone 3 existed of relatively uniform fast ice that moved vertically with the incoming tides. Zone 4 is the last and most dynamic zone, it consisted out of unconsolidated oes susceptible for break up. Zone 4 developed at the edge of the tidal at and where the ice was less protected by boulder barricades, as for example at the upstream end of the indentation. Zone 5 consists of drift ice in the channel and could potentially form an ice cover if there is

41

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics bridging with the tidal at on the opposite river bank. However, the necessary bridging of the ice cover is normally prevented as the St. Lawrence River, since the 1960s, is kept open by commercial navigation during winter. The extent and areal coverage of the dierent zones is not uniform and their development is determined by the characteristics of the tidal at topography and by the history of the ice cover.

Zone 4

Zone 3

Zone 2

Zone 1

Figure 7.3: Separation of the dierent ice zones at Lotbini`re (24/02/2010). e

The formation and dynamics of the dierent zones depends largely on the tides, corresponding currents and temperatures. Therefore, the daily mean temperature, the freezing degree days, the evolution of the hourly water levels and the mean daily water level of the observed winter are given in Figure 7.4. Generally, it can be stated that the more a particular section of the tidal at is submerged, the more it will be exposed to the action of tides and currents. In addition, it is noted that at Lotbini`re, the maximum current velocities develop in the hours before low water (see Sece tion 4.1). This means that only the lower intertidal zone is exposed to the maximum current velocities. As a result there is a decrease in exposure to the force of currents from the bank towards the river.

42

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

Figure 7.4: Summary of the tides and temperature for the 2009-2010 winter season at Lotbini`re. e The top graph shows the daily mean and the hourly water levels (DFO, 2010), the bottom graph shows the evolution of the mean daily temperature and of the degree days of freezing (EC, 2010).

Figure 7.5 links tidal characteristics of the tidal ats at Lotbini`re with the tidal at topograe phy. The gure shows that the energy level related to water coverage of the tidal at decreases from the bank towards the river. Moreover, this gure shows that more than 80 % of this tidal at is submerged during 50 % of the time. Finally is noted that the lowest high water and the highest low water of the 2009-2010 winter attained respectively 2.52 m and 2.21 m.

43

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

44

Figure 7.5: Left: cross section of the tidal at at Lotbin`re, a boulder barricade marks the transition between the tidal at and the navigation e channel. Right: histogram and line plot of the hourly water levels at Lotbini`re for December 2009. The histogram shows how many e hours the water level was at a particular height and the line represents the percent of the time the water level exceeds a certain level.

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

7.2.1

Zones 1 and 2

The rst two ice zones have a common process of formation. The rst zone tends towards the denition of an icefoot, but it is moved vertically by the spring tides (Figure 7.6). The second zone is mostly moved vertically during high tides. The rst two zones are discussed together.

Figure 7.6: Ice in zone 1 (Lotbini`re 22/12/09). e

The formation started on December 12, during neap tides and when, for the rst time, temperatures as low as -16 were measured (EC, 2010). Thin ice, formed at the low tides, stayed attached to the sediment when high water came in. Dark nilas was formed at high water levels and was deposited on the anchored ice sheet when the tide again receded. The whole froze together and formed a fragile and laminated ice cover. Around December 16, the mean tidal level rose to 2.4 m and this tide was able to push and compact ice that was on the tidal at and bring drift ice, including lots of frazil and slush ice from the river, into zone 1 and zone 2. These ice rafts weathered during the ice season and the surface was smoothed by addition of snow (Figure 7.7). These two zones remained in place till break up, that occurred on February 24, after an increase in the mean water level (3.6 m) and after two days of positive mean daily temperatures. The high temperatures weakened the cohesion of the ice pack. In addition, break-up was also characterized by huge temperature uctuations during night and day (T>15 ). The tides fractured the weakened ice cover and many tidal cracks appeared along the shore. The dierent parts were then easily dragged by the currents into the river.

45

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

Figure 7.7: I: transition of zone 2 to 3, 6 days after formation of the rafts (22/12/09) II: weathered transition of zone 2 to 3, clear hinge zone with tidal cracks( 07/01/10). III: extent of zone 1 and 2 directly after formation, river contains grease ice and white nilas (17/12/09) IV: zone 1 and 2 just before break up (24/02/10).

7.2.2

Zones 3 and Zone 4

The formation of the ice cover that would stay in place for most of the ice season started on December 17 (S=106 degree days). As there was almost no ice cover, the heat loss of the River was great. On the following days, grease ice, frazil ice and large white nilas got stranded on the tidal ats. At high water, the ice rafted and ice push ridged were formed. The boulder barricades exerted their ice retaining function and ice was able to grow behind them. The formed ice froze to the bed and was ooded during high tides. This kind of build-up resulted in a unconsolidated, laminated ice cover, with fractures, rafts and push ridges. Water was able to penetrate trough the fractures, what resulted in pool formation. The addition of snow and slush smoothed the ice cover. In the beginning of the ice season, the ice type of zone 3 extended up to the boulder barricades and thus covered the whole tidal at. On December 27, temperatures rose above zero, rain fell and the mean tidal height started to increase. As a consequence, a large tidal crack formed in the hinge between the ice of zone 2 and zone 3. The ice type of zone 4 was found in a narrow fringe where occasionally marginal 46

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

Figure 7.8: Tidal at ice cover during freezup (Lotbini`re 22/12/09). e

detachment occurred. The rest of the tidal at ice stayed stable during the very high water levels in the beginning of January. Until approximately January 26, only marginal detachments took place. It was especially in locations between dierent boulder barricades that were susceptible to break up and where ice left the tidal at. These marginal detachments particularly took place during the current reversals. On January 27, after two days with temperatures freezing point, a tide of 3.6 m induced a mass detachment of the ice cover. This event cleared about two thirds of the tidal at of ice. After two days of freezing temperatures, this zone was again lled with drift ice. The ice of zone IV never got consolidated again for the rest of the winter. Final break up started around February 15, with marginal detachments at the boundary of the shorefast ice, between the boulder barricades. The formed gaps were in rst instance again inlled with drift ice, but during the night of February 22 all the ice of zone IV had left, the ice in zone III left in the following two days. Afterwards, the tidal at was temporarily covered with drift ice that passed after the upstream reaches were broken up.

47

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

Figure 7.9: I: transition between zone 3 and zone 4 on 07/01/10 II: Ice raft in zone 4 on 29/01/10 III: transition between zone 3 and 4 on 29/01/10.

7.2.3

Ice Thickness

Two days after the major break up of zone IV, on January 29, the ice thicknesses of the tidal at ice cover were measured. At that time, the tidal at was again completely inlled with ice. Ice in zone IV consisted out of ice cakes with yellowish slush ice between them. The thicknesses in this zone could never be measured, because the ice was too unconsolidated and too dangerous to walk upon. The ice surveys were conducted when the ice cover rested on the tidal at bed. A cross section of the measured surfaces can clearly show how the thicknesses are distributed (Figure 7.10). The largest ice thicknesses were measured close to the shore (zone 1 and 2). This ice was pushed and compacted during spring tides in the beginning of the ice season. The shorefast ice (zone 3) had a fairly continuous thickness, but is not as uniform as river ice. When the ice cover rested on the bed, the slope was much more atter than the slope of the tidal at bed. The ice cover did not follow the slope of the tidal at bed. This can indicate that the thickness is governed by the tidal water levels. Ice thicknesses attained a minimum in the hinge zone between zone 2 and zone 3. The ice thickness map of January 29 is shown in Figure 7.11. The dominant color is yellow, that stands for an ice thickness between 0.5 and 0.75 m. Some patches with higher ice thicknesses (red color) occur where ice push ridges are formed or where large ice blocks 48

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

Figure 7.10: Cross section and ice thickness of zone I,II and III of the tidal at at Lotbini`re as e measured on 29/01/10. Note: start boulder barricade at the end of bathymetric graph.

are incorporated in the shorefast ice. The mean ice thickness of the whole covered area, roughly 470000 m2 , attained 0.64 m and the standard deviation of this mean was 0.19 m. The mean of the shorefast ice, approximately 0.55 m, has the same order of magnitude as earlier measurements done by the CCG in the same region and period in 2009 (CCG, 2009).

7.2.4

Interpretation

The development of dierent ice types is related to the exposure to tides and currents. On January 29, zone 1 formed where the bed elevation was higher than 2.3 m and thus where there is less than 30 % water level exceedence (see Figure 7.5). Zone 2 covered the area with a bed elevation between 2.3 and 2.0 m and exceedence between 30 % and 50 %. Zone III developed where water level exceedence was between 50 % and 70 %. Finally zone IV was found where water level exceedence was higher than 70 %. The same analysis can include the measured ice thickness and quantify how many percent of the time ice will be moved vertically by the tides. The ice cover will oat when water levels exceed the sum of the bed elevation and the ice thickness and when the ice cover is not frozen to the bed. Ice in zone 1 developed near the shores and attained roughly 0.80 m. Close to the shore, the bed elevation has a average value of 2.40 m. The sum of the ice thickness and the bed elevation is 3.2 m. Figure 7.5 shows that water levels exceed this mark only 10 % of the 49

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

Figure 7.11: Ice thickness on January 29, 2010 at Lotbini`re. e

time. This means that ice in zone 1 will only be moved vertically by spring tides. This can explain why the ice in zone 1 is very persistent. The time that ice is moved vertically will increase away from the bank.

50

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

7.3

Tidal Flats in Qubec e

Qubec City has the largest tidal range of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary (Figure 1.2). The e tidal ats in this reach are largely inuenced by human structures such as marinas, piers and harbor infrastructure. On the north shore, the upper intertidal zone and the supratidal zone made place for a railroad and the Champlain Boulevard. The tidal at is now surrounded by articial armored shores and a harbor breakwater. During the observed winter, the ice cover in the tidal at on the north shore never got consolidated and no zonation of ice types occurred. Furthermore, there was no development of an icefoot and only patches of shorefast ice were present. Drift ice was frequently brought into the tidal at, but almost always left during the following days. The ice charts show that between December 15, 2009 and March 15, 2010, the tidal at was (partially) inlled with fast ice for 45 days (CCG, 2010). A thorough description of the tidal at dynamics of the north shore can not be included, because the camera that monitored this tidal at was exposed to the harsh weather conditions and its protection was unsatisfactory. On the south shore of Qubec City (Lvis), between the Ultramar wharf and the mouth of e e the Etchemin River, the supratidal at and parts of the upper intertidal at are replaced by residential areas and a road. An icefoot was only able to develop in the highest portions of the tidal at. The shorefast ice was chaotically arranged, but was consolidated. Many tidal cracks, ssures, pressure ridges and blisters occurred. The largest tidal crack extended over almost the whole tidal at and appeared exactly at the mean low water line. Furthermore, large ice blocks were deposited on the boulder barricades and the shorefast ice ended with an ice edge. The evolution of this tidal at ice cover was not regularly monitored with cameras, only sporadic observations were made.

7.3.1

Ice Thickness and Interpretation

The shorefast ice on the north shore of Qubec City attained thicknesses between 0.5 and e 1.5 m. Some of the large ice blocks that were brought in during the ice season measured up to 2.8 m high. On January 15 and February 10 and 12, 2010 ice thicknesses were measured on the south shore (Lvis). The result of the last two surveys are combined and are shown in Figure 7.12. e

51

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

Figure 7.12: Ice thickness chart of measurements on February 10, 2010 at Lvis . e

The measured thicknesses varied greatly on this tidal at. The maximum measured thickness was more than 4 m, but the mean of the whole covered area attained 1.15 m on that day. The standard deviation was 0.49 m and conrms the great variance in ice thicknesses. In the major part of the covered area, the ice thicknesses were lower than 1 m, but the value increased towards the fast ice edge. The southwestern part of the tidal at had very thick ice. This is possibly caused by push ups and pile ups against the small pier, but the fact that this section lies beside the mouth of the Etchemin River may also be an inuence. A section through the ice cover as shown in Figure 7.13 and located on Figure 7.12, shows how the thickness evolves away from the pier. In addition, this gure demonstrates how the ice cover evolved in course of time. The ice thicknesses of the southwestern part of the tidal at attained on January, 15 an average of 2.14 m, standard deviation was 0.51 m (Figure 7.14). The mean ice thickness for the exact same area was on February 10 only 1.44 m (standard deviation: 0.66 m).

52

Chapter 7. Tidal Flat Ice Dynamics

Figure 7.13: Section of ice thickness measurements on January 15 and February 10, 2010 at Lvis. e

Figure 7.14: Ice thickness of measurements on January 15, 2010.

53

Chapter 8

Morphological Aspects of Tidal Flat Ice

The distinct character of the tidal ats of the Fluvial Estuary makes its ice features unique. The studied sites lie in the fairly narrow stretches of the river, where the tidal at is exposed to tidal action and currents. The associated forces induce the development of deformations such as ice rafts, ice ridges, hummocks and fractures. Broken ice sheets, frazil ice and small oes can accumulate under an ice sheet or under oes, afterwards this drift ice can get trapped or get stranded on the tidal ats. Dionne (1973) briey described the ice features of tidal at ice in the Upper Estuary of the St. Lawrence. In this reach of the Estuary, the tidal ats are much wider in extent and there is much more sediment accumulation than in the Fluvial Estuary. Furthermore, the water is brackish in the Upper Estuary and waves play a signicant role in the formation of the icefoot and the shorefast ice. In this chapter the morphological aspects of tidal at ice of the Fluvial Estuary are discussed and compared with the tidal at ice features of the Upper Estuary when possible.

8.1

Fast Ice Edge

A fast ice edge is the demarcation between the fast ice and the open water (WMO, 1970). This vertical escarpment occurs in the Fluvial Estuary, for example in Qubec City (12/02/10) e where the fast ice edge was more than 3 m high. The height of these clis diminishes gradually towards the tidal limit. As illustration, the ice edges in Portneuf, a city approximately 60 km upstream from Qubec City and Trois-Rivi`res are depicted in Figure 8.1, the mean tidal e e range of these cities are respectively 3.5 and 0.2 m (CHS, 2007). In the Upper Estuary of the St. Lawrence, the shorefast ice ends commonly towards the river with an ice cli. Heights range between several decimeters and a few meters (Dionne, 1973) and are thus comparable with those of the Fluvial Estuary. The dierence lies in the fact that the fast ice edge in the Upper Estuary can be reformed by waves. 54

Chapter 8. Morphological Aspects of Tidal Flat Ice

Figure 8.1: Illustration of the fast ice edge in the Fluvial Estuary of the St. Lawrence River (I: Lvis 12/02/10, low water, II: Portneuf 06/02/10, 1 h after low water, III: Trois-Rivi`res e e 06/02/10, 0.5 h after low water).

55

Chapter 8. Morphological Aspects of Tidal Flat Ice

8.2

Ice-push Ridges

Long ice pushed ridges, with tilted ice blocks occurred in the shorefast ice on the south shore of Qubec (Figure 8.2). These ice feature, that are aligned parallel to the shore, were present e in Lotbini`re, but to a minor extent. They are formed where the bottom is shallow, rocky e or unconsolidated and where boulder barricades occur (Dionne, 1973). In the observed ice season no ice ridges higher than 4 m were observed in the Fluvial Estuary. The ice-push ridges in Lotbini`re were generally 40 cm high. In the Upper Estuary these features can reach 10 to e 15 m in height, 50 to 60 m in width and 2 km in length and are thus much larger. Other smaller ice-ridges occur in the Fluvial Estuary, sometimes oblique and sometimes perpendicular to the shore (Figure 8.3 and 8.4). These are a result of the pressure exerted by the tidal currents that cross the tidal ats. This kind of ridge was not seen in Lotbini`re. In the Upper Estuary e these ice ridges contain much more sediment and attain a height between 2 and 4 m (Dionne, 1973).

Figure 8.2: Ice-push ridge on the boulder barricades of the tidal at on the south shore of Qubec e City (I: Lvis 10/02/10, II: Lvis 12/02/10). e e

56

Chapter 8. Morphological Aspects of Tidal Flat Ice

Figure 8.3: I: Shorefast ice with ice-push ridges aligned perpendicular and oblique to the shore. II: Detail of an ice-push ridge in the shorefast ice (I: Lvis 10/02/10 14:51, II: Lvis e e 10/02/10).

Figure 8.4: Pressure ridge in the shorefast ice, axis perpendicular to the shore (Lvis 10/02/10). e

57

Chapter 8. Morphological Aspects of Tidal Flat Ice

8.3

Blisters

Blisters are small conical ridges or peaks in the shorefast ice, that are formed where isolated boulders (Dionne, 1973) or grounded ice blocks rest on the tidal at bed. Tidal action causes this tipping and failing of the shorefast ice sheet. In other words these typical tidal at ice features are a direct result of the successive grounding and oating of the shorefast ice. Blisters were especially found on the south shore of Qubec City and some on the shores of e Lotbini`re. The three blisters, shown in Figure 8.5 are very dierent in size. The very small e blister (diameter < 40 cm) shown in the bottom right panel, is formed by dark nilas that was deposited on a small ice block and failed. The blisters in Lotbini`re (diameter 1.5 m) are e probably formed analogously, as boulders almost only occur near the boulder barricades. On this tidal at blisters are especially formed during periods with low mean water levels. On the muddy boulder at on the south shore of Qubec City, the blisters are larger (diameter e 5 m) and mostly shaped by isolated boulders, as shown in the top photograph of Figure 8.5.

Figure 8.5: Photographs of three dierent blisters with dierent size and location (I: Lvis 12/02/10, e II: Lotbini`re 22/12/09, III: Sillery 22/01/10). e

58

Chapter 8. Morphological Aspects of Tidal Flat Ice

8.4

Cracks and Fissures

Cracks and ssures are common in the shorefast ice of the tidal ats of the Fluvial Estuary. Generally two kinds of cracks are dierentiated, one formed by temperature dierences and a second formed due to tide action. Thermal cracks form mostly a polygon patterns of narrow cracks (Dionne, 1973). The latter are wider than the thermal cracks and are almost parallel aligned with the shore. They are formed principally under the inuence of the vertical water level movements. In Lotbinire a large tidal crack of more than 500 m long was formed after e a short period with positive temperatures (Figure 8.6, I). The largest tidal crack on the south shore of Qubec City, was found at the mean low water line and was more than 200 m long e (see Figure 8.6, II and III). Large tidal cracks may contain brash ice, nilas or young ice. Water can penetrate through both types of cracks and can ood the shorefast ice.

Figure 8.6: I: tidal crack close to the shore, II and III: tidal crack at the mean low water level (I: Lotbini`re 07/01/10, II and III: Lvis 12/02/10). e e

59

Chapter 8. Morphological Aspects of Tidal Flat Ice

8.5

Ice and Sediments

The tidal at ice cover has a morpho- sedimentological importance (see Section 3.3). Figure 8.7 shows some examples that were observed in the Fluvial Estuary. The axe on the pictures has a total length of 30 cm and functions as scale. Photograph I shows how an ice block was able to transport a patch of the tidal marsh. This is a common feature and is extensively observed in the Upper Estuary (Dionne, 1969, 1998). The incorporation of grass-stalks in the ice and the strong cohesion of the frozen sediments make this possible.

Figure 8.7: Examples of the erosive power of the tidal at ice cover. (I: Sillery 05/03/10, II: Lvis e 05/03/10, III: Sillery 01/03/10, IV: Lvis: 05/03/10). e

The second photograph is a part of the ice cover in the supratidal zone that was rafted on the shore by the large tides on the end of February 2010. A special way of incorporation of sediments is clearly showed in photograph III. It is probably formed by an ice cover that froze to a muddy bed during low tide. When high tides came in, the ice was brought aoat and grew before it was again deposited on the bed and incorporated sediment. The nal result is a laminated ice block with alternating bands of sediment loaden ice and bands of pure ice. The volumetric sediment content of this type of ice was determined according to a procedure explained by Allard et al. (1998). The estimated percentage of volume of sediments per volume of ice was 5.31%. The last picture shows an ice block of about 2.5 m high during break 60

Chapter 8. Morphological Aspects of Tidal Flat Ice up on the south shore of Qubec. The block is composed out of many dierent blocks, one of e the incorporated blocks has a high sediment content. All these features make that sediments can be transported in and out of the tidal ats. Sediment incorporation is much less pronounced in the Fluvial Estuary than in the Upper Estuary. It is an estuarine characteristic that there is much more sediment deposition in a upper estuary than in a uvial estuary (Masselink and Hughes, 2003). Furthermore, the inuence of waves, which could add sediment to the ice cover, is much smaller in the Fluvial Estuary than in the Upper Estuary. However, ice has a geomorphologic inuence on the tidal ats of the Fluvial Estuary, for example the formation of boulder barricades.

61

Chapter 8. Morphological Aspects of Tidal Flat Ice

8.6

Ice types

A varied mix of inuences shape the ice on the tidal ats. During the dierent stages of development, new ice such as frazil ice, grease ice, slush ice and anchor ice are found. But also nilas, pancake ice and young ice such as grey and grey-white ice occur. These dierent ice sorts are brought together by tides and currents and form rafts, ridges and oes. The whole freezes together, when stranded, to form the icefoot and the shorefast ice (Figure 8.8). Once on the tidal ats the ice is again reshaped by specic tidal at processes caused by the vertical water movements. The nal result are ice features that contain many dierent sorts of ice, what makes them dicult to classify with the classical nomenclature.

Figure 8.8: Photos showing how the shorefast ice is build-up out of many dierent sorts of ice. Note that the shorefast ice in photo II has more sediment incorporated than the one in photo I (I: Sillery 01/03/10, II: Lvis 01/03/10). e

62

Chapter 8. Morphological Aspects of Tidal Flat Ice In Figure 8.9 some of the various ice types, found on the tidal ats are shown. The rst photograph shows a large ice oes that is build-up by chaotically arranged brash ice under a thick ice sheet. In contrast to the rst, the evenly large ice oe in the second photograph has a basis made out of slush ice and is topped by disordered ice sheet fragments. The third picture shows a detail of the ice crystals that covered the tidal ats in Lotbini`re. Those e crystals were formed just before freez-up and just after break-up and covered the whole tidal at. When nilas is formed out of oating frazil ice, the ice crystals can continue to grow downwards (Ashton, 1986). This is shown in the fourth picture. Ice rafting is an important process in oating ice sheets. It can occur in large thick ice sheets, but also in nilas. The fth and last picture shows a 10 cm high raft of very thin nilas that was formed during the incoming tide.

Figure 8.9: Examples of the various ice types found on the tidal ats (I: Sillery 22/01/10, II: Sillery 05/03/10, III: Lotbini`re 07/03/10, IV: Lvis 15/01/10 and V: Lotbini`re 07/03/10). e e e

63

Chapter 9

Hydraulic Model
9.1 Model Setup

To investigate the inuence of tidal at ice on the Fluvial Estuary hydrodynamics, a two dimensional ow model with exible mesh was used. The model, that brings the theory discussed in Section 3.1 into practice, compares the hydrodynamic characteristics of the Fluvial Estuary during summer with those during winter. The model is restricted between TroisRivi`res and Qubec and thus simulates almost the whole Fluvial Estuary. The bathymetric e e data and the upstream daily discharge data of this section were obtained via the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC, 2010) and the downstream boundary limit was acquired online via DFO (2010). The bathymetric data has a high density in the deeper sections of the river, but has a much lower resolution in the tidal ats. Although a constraint to the model, the bathymetric data is found to be satisfactory to make a comparison between ice and ice-free conditions. The Fluvial Estuary is mostly bounded by high clis, so ood plains beyond the tidal ats are absent. The river bathymetry was interpolated towards the river banks, which was digitized from the nautical charts of the area (CHS, 2007). The elevation of the clis was extracted from a digital elevation model that was obtained online (CSI, 2010) and was then included in the model bathymetry. The obtained discharge data had a low, daily resolution and thus a constant discharge had to be chosen as upstream boundary condition. This is an important simplication, because the discharge in Trois-Rivi`re is inuenced by the tides. However, e the tidal range in Trois-Rivi`res (0.2 m) is small and the inclusion of more upstream sections e would signicantly augment simulation time. The chosen discharge amounts to 12000 m3 /s. This value is higher than the mean of the daily discharge between 2000 and 2006 (mean: 10514 m3 /s), but falls within the standard deviation of this mean (stdv: 1942 m3 /s). Further, no tributaries were taken into account. The tides are imposed to the model by the downstream boundary condition. For this, the tidal cycle, as measured at Qubec (Lauzon) between e 64

Chapter 9. Hydraulic Model 05/12/2009 04:00 and 07/12/2009 22:00 was used (DFO, 2010). The mean daily water level for these three days attained 2.59 m above CD and is almost equal to the mean of the daily water levels between December 2009 and March 2010 (2.60 m).

Figure 9.1: Example of the used mesh in the 2D-Model.

The Estuary is subdivided in two entities, the river channel and the tidal ats. Each of these are modeled with a dierent kind of mesh and with dierent hydraulic parameters (Figure 9.1). The deepest reaches of the main channel are modeled with a quadrangular mesh and the shallower reaches with a triangular mesh. The results are saved with a time step of 5 min. A Manning coecient for both the channel and the tidal ats were chosen. Literature reports Manning coecients for the main channel (nC ) in the Qu`bec City region as small as e 0.023 (Bourgault and Koutitonsky, 1999). The substrate of the tidal ats varies in the Fluvial Estuary. Next to boulder ats and muddy ats, also gravel beds and/or rocks are found. These are estimated to have a Manning coecient between 0.02 and 0.05 (Matte, 2010). In the model, a summer value of 0.03 was used for the Manning coecient of tidal at bed (nT Fb ).

Table 9.1: Estimated Ice Thicknesses

City Qubec e Portneuf Lotbini`re e Batiscan Trois-Rivi`res e

Estimated Ice Thickness 1.40 m 0.80 m 0.67 m 0.40 m 0.30 m

The model of the winter conditions had to incorporate the inuence of the decrease in conveyance capacity and the decrease in the water storage function of the tidal ats (see Sec65

Chapter 9. Hydraulic Model tion 3.1). Therefore, the ice cover module, included in the modeling software was used. The inputs to enter the ice cover in the model are ice extent, ice thickness and ice roughness. The fast ice cover was assumed to extend only on the reaches that have a point elevations above CD and were copied from the nautical charts (CHS, 2007). Ice thicknesses were specied in the model by an interpolated ice thickness chart (Table 9.2). Ice thickness values for the dierent sections were obtained via our own surveys and via the operational program review of the CCG (2009). The roughness of the undersurface of the tidal at ice cover is very high. The ice has a certain porosity and is far from smooth. The eect of this ice roughness on the ow eld was included by dening a constant ice cover roughness. The Manning coecient for the ice undersurface (nT Fi ) is estimated to be 0.052. When this value is combined with the Manning roughness of the bed (nT Fb ) by using Eq. 3.2, the total, combined Manning value for the ice covered tidal at (nT Ft ) then becomes 0.042. Table 9.2 summarizes the estimates of the dierent parameters. The used modeling software is Mike 21 of the Danish Hydraulic Institute.

Table 9.2: Estimated parameters for the ow model

Parameter Qupstream nC nT Fb nT Fi nT Ft

Estimated value 12000 0.023 0.030 0.052 0.042

Unit m3 /s

66

Chapter 9. Hydraulic Model

67

Figure 9.2: Model Bathymetry with indication of the dierent cities along the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary that were chosen as points of interest .

Chapter 9. Hydraulic Model

9.2

Results of Simulations

The tidal at ice cover has undoubtedly an impact on the hydrodynamics of the tidal ats of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary, but it is unclear if it inuences the water levels or the current velocities in the navigation channel. In order to investigate this impact, the velocities and water levels of the summer model are compared with those of the winter model. Furthermore, the inuence of the tidal at ice cover on the timing of low water and high water are discussed. The summer and the winter models were independently initialized. The only dierence between the two models is the insertion of the tidal at ice cover. The boundary conditions, the bed roughnesses and the bathymetry were left unchanged. The model calculates for every mesh the evolution of the water level and the evolution of the velocities during the simulation. A rst comparison uses these calculated values, that are saved with a time step of 5 minutes, to look at the impact of the tidal at ice cover on the hydrodynamics of the Fluvial Estuary. Points of interest were selected in the navigation channel between Champlain and Qubec e City (Figure 9.2), some graphs of the result are added in the Appendix. A second comparison is made by extracting the change in maximum water level and the maximum velocity. Therefore the maximum value of each mesh point of the summer simulation are subtracted from the maximum value of of each mesh point of the winter simulation. As a result, maps could be produced with the change in maximum current velocity and the change in maximum water level for the whole Fluvial Estuary. These maps give a more general overview of one specic eect of the tidal at ice cover on water level and velocities.

9.2.1

Impact on Water Levels

The impact of the tidal at ice cover varied as a function of the location. Upstream of Grondines, the water level of low water was higher during winter than during summer. In this reach, the maximum increase in low water level during winter was 0.2 to 0.5 m. In the middle of the Fluvial Estuary, between Grondines and Neuville, the level of low water was not much aected. Low water was here in winter generally 0 to 0.10 m lower than in summer. However, downstream of Cap Rouge, the water levels of low water were up to 0.25 m lower in winter compared to their summer values. The timing of low water was only delayed in the upstream reach (above Grondines) and this by approximately 10 minutes (Figure 9.3). The eect on the level of high tide is generally much less than the eect on the level of the low tide. When there is a change, it is especially the lower high water that is inuenced by the tidal at ice cover. For example near Lotbini`re the lower high water was 0.17 m higher e in winter than in summer, while the higher high water was only 0.04 m higher in winter (Figure A4). Furthermore, no signicant dierence in the timing of high water is noted, except upstream of Grondines where high water is delayed with about 15 min (Figure 9.3). 68

Chapter 9. Hydraulic Model

Generally speaking, the water level is higher during winter than in summer upstream Lotbini`re. Between Portneuf and Neuville, the water level is higher or lower in winter than is e summer, depending on the tidal water level. Downstream of Cap Rouge water level is mostly lower in winter than in summer.

Figure 9.3: Comparison of water levels in the navigation channel at Batiscan, Portneuf and Sillery as examples of the upstream, the middle and the downstream reach respectively.

9.2.2

Impact on Velocities

The velocities in the main channel of the Fluvial Estuary are generally higher in winter than in summer. Especially in the reaches with a marked main channel and wide tidal ats velocities can signicantly augment. For example the reach between Grondines and Portneuf, where velocities increase by 0.25 to 0.50 m/s (Figure A4 and 9.4, III). Reaches with small tidal ats and a wide channel, such as between Donnacona and Neuville are inuenced differently. The velocities in this reach can be lower (0-0.25 m/s) during winter than during summer, but can also be higher (0-0.25 m/s) depending on the location in the river channel (Figure 9.4, II). These reaches are possible inuenced by the narrowing at the Qubec bridges. e The timing of the tides is also changed by the occurence of tidal at ice. Slack tide is a term used to indicate the moment tides reverse, it occurs after low water and after high water. In the reach upstream of Lotbini`re, the timing of slack tide after low water was delayed during e winter by more then 15 min (Figure A1, A2, A3, A4). The timing of slack tide after high water was not inuenced. Other reaches of the Fluvial Estuary were not subject to similar delays. Finally, the timing and magnitude of the maximum velocities is examined. There is a maximum velocity in the downstream direction that is associated with ebb tide and a maximum 69

Chapter 9. Hydraulic Model velocity in the upward direction, associated with ood tide. The downstream direction of ow is chosen as positive and the upstream direction of ow is chosen negative. In the reaches near Batiscan and Grondines, the development of maximum ood velocities was retarded by 10 to 15 min (Figure A1, A2, A3). In addition, the magnitude of the maximum ood velocities are in these reaches decreased during winter in comparison to summer. The timing of the maximum ebb velocity was in some sections delayed with more than 40 min (Batiscan, Grondines, Donnacona, Neuville, Sillery), but in other sections no signicant inuence was noted (Cap Rouge, Portneuf).

9.3

Interpretation

The simulation uses a preliminary and uncalibrated model of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary. The bathymetric data of the tidal ats had a low density and many estimates are incorporated into the model. The constant discharge as upstream boundary implies that velocities upstream Champlain are very poorly represented and therefore this reach was not included in the results. Despite the models limitations, the model seemed to generate realistic calculations. For example, the spatial distortion of the tidal signal matches observations. In short, the simulations were the best that could be achieved with the limited available data and resources. It should be fully satisfactory to investigate the inuence of tidal at ice on hydrodynamics of the navigation channel. According to the two dimensional model, the presence of tidal at ice induces a change in water level. In the upstream reaches, the ice cover induces generally an increase in water level. In the middle of the Fluvial Estuary, the winter water levels can be higher or lower in winter than in summer, depending on the tidal cycle. In de downstream reaches water levels are generally lower during winter. Generally speaking, the velocities in the navigation channel increase when the winter simulation is compared with the summer simulation. The occurrence of the tidal at ice cover introduces a change in conveyance capacity, a decrease in the water storage of the tidal ats and a decrease in cross sectional area (Section 3.1.3). The resulting eects are closely related and therefore the observed changes are caused by an interplay of the dierent impacts of the tidal at ice cover. The relative dominance of the eects depends on time and location.

70

Chapter 9. Hydraulic Model

71

Figure 9.4: maximum current speed changes. I: downstream part of the Fluvial Estuary, II: Donnacona, III: Portneuf, IV: Batiscan.

Chapter 9. Hydraulic Model The ice cover induces an increase in overall roughness of the Estuary. This explains the increased water levels during winter in the upstream reach. The Estuary needs an additional head to overcome additional resistance contributed by the ice cover. The fact that the eect is higher during low tides can be caused by the larger energy slope in the estuary during low tides. This increase in upstream water levels at low tide was also simulated in the completely ice covered Portneuf Estuary (Morse et al., 2006a). For the downstream reaches, it was especially the low water level that was inuenced by the tidal at ice. Here the decrease in water storage function of the tidal ats comes into play, since the tidal prism is diminished during winter (see Subsection 3.1). In other words, when winter is compared to summer, there is less volume of water that has to ow in and out the Estuary during a tidal cycle. The duration of ebb tide is proportional to the tidal prism. What means that less time is needed to attain an equal water level in winter compared to summer. However, in the simulation, it is the downstream boundary condition that determines the duration of the ebb tide. This boundary condition was left unchanged and therefore, the downstream reaches have more time in winter to become empty during low tide. As a consequence, the low water levels are lower during winter than in summer. The high water levels are less inuenced, because this water level is imposed by the downstream tides. An other impact of the decrease in tidal prism developed in the upstream reaches of the Fluvial Estuary. There the ice cover decreased the magnitude of the maximal ood velocities. Less water volume had to be transported in more or less the same time. This results in lower velocities during winter in comparison to summer. The simulation demonstrates that the velocities in the navigation channel of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary are most of the time higher during winter than during summer. Velocity increases in the main channel are caused by the decrease in cross sectional area of the complete channel and the decrease in conveyance capacity of the tidal ats. However, sometimes the velocities in the navigation channel were lower for the winter simulation than for the summer simulation. This decrease in velocity in the main channel is an eect of lower discharge during winter, due to the reduction in tidal prism. These two opposing eects eects, the increase and the decrease in velocities, interplay and are dependent of time and location. The increase in velocities is especially important in reaches with wide tidal ats and a deep and narrow navigation channel, as for example the reach near Lotbini`re. Reaches with e no pronounced eect in velocity change, may balance between the two opposing eects of increasing and decreasing velocities. Finally, the simulation demonstrates a dierence in timing, which is probably caused by the fact that all the dierent hydraulic processes are interlinked. 72

Chapter 9. Hydraulic Model Therefore a change in water level and velocity will directly change the timing of the tidal velocities and the timing of maximum and minimum water levels.

73

Part IV

Conclusions and Recommendations

74

Chapter 10

Conclusion
The presented study was motivated by an EC project to simulate the winter hydrodynamics of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary. It is known that tidal at ice has an impact on the tidal prism, on the ow distribution and on the conveyance eciency of the river. Therefore, the amount of ice and its distribution on the tidal ats needed to be characterized. It was essential to understand and quantify the fundamental dynamics, such as the drift ice mass balance. The study reach is the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary from Trois-Rivi`res to Qubec e e City. The study presents new data about the areal distribution of ice thickness on two dierent tidal ats of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary, each having a very distinct character. New insights in tidal at ice dynamics were obtained through time-lapse photography and eld surveys. Morphological features of the tidal at ice cover are documented and compared with the ice features previously documented by Dionne in the St. Lawrence Upper Estuary. Finally, a 2-D numerical simulation demonstrated the signicant inuence of tidal at ice on the hydrodynamics of the navigation channel. The St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary is characterized by fresh water, a large tidal range, strong currents and continuous winter navigation. A tidal at ice cover will especially form where human structures or boulder barricades retain drift ice. The ice pack consists of dierent ice elements that are brought together by tides and currents as they form rafts, ridges and block-like oes. When the tidal ats are frozen over, the tides rework the ice cover morphology. The tides thus introduces a sort of chaos that is proportional to the local tidal range. This chaos is especially characterized by the size and abundance of specic ice features such as blisters, ice push ridges, fast ice edges, cracks and ssures. The ice thickness of the shorefast ice is generally determined by the local water depth at high tide, which generally increases gradually from the bank towards the river. Although ice near 75

Chapter 10. Conclusion the banks or near piers can attain higher thicknesses due to pile-up and ridging. The ice thickness is not a constant value since it can increase near ice push ridges and blisters. According to the results of a 2-D numerical model, the occurrence of a tidal at ice cover is found to have an impact on the velocities and the water levels of the navigation of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary. The impact on the hydraulic characteristics is diverse. In the upstream reach (above Lotbini`re), simulated water levels are generally higher during winter e than during summer. In the middle of the Fluvial Estuary, between Portneuf and Neuville, the water levels are less inuenced and in the downstream reach (below Cap Rouge) water levels are unchanged, except during low water when they are lower in winter than in summer. Velocities increase particularly in section with wide tidal ats and a marked main channel. The increase is less pronounced where tidal ats are small and the navigation channel wide and deep. The observations covered only one ice season, where ideally several winters should be investigated. Therefore the obtained data reveal only a glimpse of the complex underlying processes that determine the dynamics of the tidal at environment. These results and the obtained data can form a basis for further research. The 2-D simulation used a preliminary model of the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary. A next model should be calibrated and validated before the tidal at ice cover is introduced into the simulation. The ice thickness maps, presented in this work, show that tidal at ice thickness is not uniform. Therefore the next model should not only use point measurements of ice thickness along the Fluvial Estuary as input for ice thickness, as this would introduce an inaccuracy. Additional data about the areal distribution of ice thicknesses needs to be incorporated into model. The literature review and the results of this study revealed the many dierent eects of an estuary ice cover on sediment, hydrodynamic and environmental processes. Since the 1960s, the St. Lawrence River is kept open in winter for commercial navigation. Therefore the Fluvial Estuary can virtually never form a continuous ice cover, as it did before. The natural historical ice cover had a very dierent eect than the discontinuous ice cover present today. A suggestion for further research, is to investigate the long term eect of winter navigation on the St. Lawrence River, Estuary and ecosystem.

76

Part V

Lists and Bibliography

77

List of Figures
1.1 Localization of the dierent sectors in the St. Lawrence River and Estuary Map representing the South of the Canadian province of Qubec, it shows the e dierent parts of the St. Lawrence River and Estuary established by EC (2009). Mean tidal range evolution in the St. Lawrence Estuary. This graph shows the mean tidal range in function of the distance from the tidal limit in Sorel [After Brochu (1960)] and shows that the St. Lawrence can be classied as a hypersynchronous estuary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Graph showing the monthly average precipitation (bars) and temperature (line) at the Jean-Lesage International Airport in Qubec City. For the values of e precipitation, snow was converted into rain equivalents. The values are means of at least 20 years of observations. Data was obtained from the online climate database of EC (EC, 2010). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conceptual classication of coastal depositional environments [Modied from Dalrymple et al. (1992)]. The three edges of the prism correspond to conditions dominated by uvial, wave and tidal processes. Estuaries are found in an intermediate position because they are inuenced by all three processes. . . . Example of a possible build-up of ooded snow lying on a fractured ice sheet. The ice cover is build-up out of four dierent layers. From the water surface to the air, a snow layer, a snow ice layer, a snow slush layer and a black ice layer are dierentiated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The evolution of frazil ice to cake ice in a river [Modied from Michel (1978)]. This gure is an illustration of how active frazil particles formed in a supercooled environment can adhere to frazil ocks and evolve via slush ice to cake ice. The gure shows also that when frazil particles contact the river bed, anchor ice can be formed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Figure showing how the ice-free trapezoidal outline can change to a rectangular form due to ice inuences in a macrotidal estuary. LT= low tide; HT= high tide [Modied from Desplanque and Bray (1986)] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2

1.3

1.4

2.1

11

2.2

12

3.1

17

78

List of Figures 3.2 longitudinal velocity prole of an ice-covered channel [Modied from Ashton (1986)]. The total ow cross section is divided into an upper ice zone (index=i) and a lower bed zone (index=b). The two zones have a surface of maximal velocities in common. Other symbols are as in common use. . . . . . . . . . . Dierence in water storage on tidal ats during summer and winter. The storage of water on the tidal ats changes due to the presence of ice. During summer a volume Vs ows to the tidal ats at each successive tide. During winter this volume is reduced by the submerged volume of the shorefast ice and the volume of the icefoot, Vi . Thus the volume of storage in winter, Vw is equal to Vs Vi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Location of dierent cities along the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary. . . . . . . Water level in meter above Chart Datum (CD) in Sept-Ile, Qubec City and e Deschaillon starting from 29/01/2006 00:00 till 30/01/2006 00:00 (DFO, 2010). This chart gives the water level evolution during two days for Sept-Ile near Ile dAnticosti, Qubec City and Deschaillon, which is approximately 12 km e upstream from Lotbini`re (for the locations see Figure 1.1 and 4.1). The Figure e shows that the St. Lawrence Estuary is a hypersynchronous estuary, with clear tidal distortion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Photo of the survey equipment and the safety material. (1) base station (2) radio transmitter and antenna (3) control panel for mobile station (4) backpack conguration of the mobile station. Protection wear shown in the pictures: helmet, Mustang survival suit, harness with rope attached to partner. . . . . I: electrical diagram of photographic monitoring installation, II: dierent parts of the intervalometer, III: organization of the dierent parts in a cooler. . . . I: Final installation of cameras in the steeples of the St. Michel Church in Sillery, cameras C1S, C2S, C3S and II: the St. Louis Church Lotbini`re, cameras C1L, e C2L, C3L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Outline of the developed graphical user interface used to analyze the obtained time-lapse photographs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View over the tidal ats from the steeple of the St. Michel Church in Sillery during low water, with indication of location on marine chart. . . . . . . . . View over the tidal ats from the steeple of the St. Louis Church in Lotbini`re e during low water, with indication of location on marine chart. . . . . . . . . . Illustration of the balance that determines the amount of ice on the tidal at at a particular moment during the ice season. Plus stands for an addition to the amount of tidal at ice and minus for a decrease. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18

3.3

20 25

4.1 4.2

27

5.1

30

6.1 6.2

33

34 35 36 37

6.3 6.4 6.5

7.1

39

79

List of Figures 7.2 Top: close up of ice oes that rest on the boulder barricades of the tidal at of Deschambault (06/02/10, near low water). Bottom: ice cover build-up initiated by ice oes resting on the boulder barricades in December 2009 (Ice Chart no.: 6, 9 and 12, CCG, 2010). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Separation of the dierent ice zones at Lotbini`re (24/02/2010). . . . . . . . . e Summary of the tides and temperature for the 2009-2010 winter season at Lotbini`re. The top graph shows the daily mean and the hourly water levels (DFO, e 2010), the bottom graph shows the evolution of the mean daily temperature and of the degree days of freezing (EC, 2010). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Left: cross section of the tidal at at Lotbin`re, a boulder barricade marks the e transition between the tidal at and the navigation channel. Right: histogram and line plot of the hourly water levels at Lotbini`re for December 2009. The e histogram shows how many hours the water level was at a particular height and the line represents the percent of the time the water level exceeds a certain level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ice in zone 1 (Lotbini`re 22/12/09). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e I: transition of zone 2 to 3, 6 days after formation of the rafts (22/12/09) II: weathered transition of zone 2 to 3, clear hinge zone with tidal cracks( 07/01/10). III: extent of zone 1 and 2 directly after formation, river contains grease ice and white nilas (17/12/09) IV: zone 1 and 2 just before break up (24/02/10). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tidal at ice cover during freezup (Lotbini`re 22/12/09). . . . . . . . . . . . e I: transition between zone 3 and zone 4 on 07/01/10 II: Ice raft in zone 4 on 29/01/10 III: transition between zone 3 and 4 on 29/01/10. . . . . . . . . . . Cross section and ice thickness of zone I,II and III of the tidal at at Lotbini`re as measured on 29/01/10. Note: start boulder barricade at the end of e bathymetric graph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ice thickness on January 29, 2010 at Lotbini`re. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e Ice thickness chart of measurements on February 10, 2010 at Lvis . . . . . . e Section of ice thickness measurements on January 15 and February 10, 2010 at Lvis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e Ice thickness of measurements on January 15, 2010. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Illustration of the fast ice edge in the Fluvial Estuary of the St. Lawrence River (I: Lvis 12/02/10, low water, II: Portneuf 06/02/10, 1 h after low water, III: e Trois-Rivi`res 06/02/10, 0.5 h after low water). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e Ice-push ridge on the boulder barricades of the tidal at on the south shore of Qubec City (I: Lvis 10/02/10, II: Lvis 12/02/10). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e e e

7.3 7.4

41 42

43

7.5

7.6 7.7

44 45

7.8 7.9 7.10

46 47 48

7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 8.1

49 50 52 53 53

55 56

8.2

80

List of Figures 8.3 I: Shorefast ice with ice-push ridges aligned perpendicular and oblique to the shore. II: Detail of an ice-push ridge in the shorefast ice (I: Lvis 10/02/10 e 14:51, II: Lvis 10/02/10). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e Pressure ridge in the shorefast ice, axis perpendicular to the shore (Lvis e 10/02/10). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Photographs of three dierent blisters with dierent size and location (I: Lvis e 12/02/10, II: Lotbini`re 22/12/09, III: Sillery 22/01/10). . . . . . . . . . . . . e I: tidal crack close to the shore, II and III: tidal crack at the mean low water level (I: Lotbini`re 07/01/10, II and III: Lvis 12/02/10). . . . . . . . . . . . e e Examples of the erosive power of the tidal at ice cover. (I: Sillery 05/03/10, II: Lvis 05/03/10, III: Sillery 01/03/10, IV: Lvis: 05/03/10). . . . . . . . . e e Photos showing how the shorefast ice is build-up out of many dierent sorts of ice. Note that the shorefast ice in photo II has more sediment incorporated than the one in photo I (I: Sillery 01/03/10, II: Lvis 01/03/10). . . . . . . . e Examples of the various ice types found on the tidal ats (I: Sillery 22/01/10, II: Sillery 05/03/10, III: Lotbini`re 07/03/10, IV: Lvis 15/01/10 and V: Lote e bini`re 07/03/10). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e Example of the used mesh in the 2D-Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Model Bathymetry with indication of the dierent cities along the St. Lawrence Fluvial Estuary that were chosen as points of interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of water levels in the navigation channel at Batiscan, Portneuf and Sillery as examples of the upstream, the middle and the downstream reach respectively. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . maximum current speed changes. I: downstream part of the Fluvial Estuary, II: Donnacona, III: Portneuf, IV: Batiscan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evolution of Champlain. Evolution of Batiscan. . Evolution of Grondines. . Evolution of Lotbini`re. . e Evolution of Portneuf. . Evolution of Donnacona. water levels . . . . . . . water levels . . . . . . . water levels . . . . . . . water levels . . . . . . . water levels . . . . . . . water levels . . . . . . . and current . . . . . . . and current . . . . . . . and current . . . . . . . and current . . . . . . . and current . . . . . . . and current . . . . . . . velocities in . . . . . . . velocities in . . . . . . . velocities in . . . . . . . velocities in . . . . . . . velocities in . . . . . . . velocities in . . . . . . . the . . the . . the . . the . . the . . the . . navigation channel . . . . . . . . . . . navigation channel . . . . . . . . . . . navigation channel . . . . . . . . . . . navigation channel . . . . . . . . . . . navigation channel . . . . . . . . . . . navigation channel . . . . . . . . . . . near . . . near . . . near . . . near . . . near . . . near . . .

57 57 58 59 60

8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8

62

8.9

63 65 67

9.1 9.2 9.3

69 71

9.4

1 2 3 4 5 6

91 91 92 92 93 93

81

List of Figures 7 8 Evolution of Neuville. . . Evolution of Sillery. . . . water levels . . . . . . . water levels . . . . . . . and current . . . . . . . and current . . . . . . . velocities in . . . . . . . velocities in . . . . . . . the . . the . . navigation channel . . . . . . . . . . . navigation channel . . . . . . . . . . . near . . . near . . .

94 94

82

List of Tables
1.1 Geographical limits of the dierent parts of the St. Lawrence River and their approximate length [after EC (2009) and IHO (1953)]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meteorological comparison of the 2009-2010 winter at the Jean-Lesage International Airport in Qubec City (EC, 2010). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e Estimated Ice Thicknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Estimated parameters for the ow model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.1

28 65 66

9.1 9.2

83

Bibliography
Allard, M., Michaud, Y., Ruz, M.-H., and Hquette, A. (1998). Ice foot, freeze-thaw of e sediments, and platform erosion in a subarctic microtidal environment, Manitounuk Strait, Northern Quebec, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 35:965979. Ashton, G. D., editor (1986). River Lake Ice Engineering. Water Resources Publications, LCC. Barnes, D. K. (1999). The inuence of ice on polar nearshore benthos. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, 79(03):401407. Bossler, J. D., editor (2010). Manual of geospation science and technology. CRC Press, 2 edition. Bourgault, D. and Koutitonsky, V. G. (1999). Real-time monitoring of the freshwater discharge at the heath of the St. Lawrence Estuary. Atmosphere-Ocean, 37(2):203220. Brochu, M. (1960). Dynamique et caractristiques de glaces de drive de lestuaire et de la e e partie nord-est du Golfe Saint-Laurent, hiver 1957-1958. Direction de la Geographie, Etude Gographique no. 24, 93 p Ottawa, Canada. e Cameron, W. and Pritchard, D. (1963). Estuaries. In: The Sea (ed. MN Hill), volume 2, pages 306324. John Wiley & Sons. CCG (2009). Operational Program Review, Qubec Region. Icebreaking escort and ood cone trol, 2008-2009 season. Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Coast Guard. CCG (2010). Operational Program Review, Qubec Region. Icebreaking escort and ood cone trol, 2009-2010 season. Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Coast Guard. CCG (2010). Portal Site Marinfo. Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Coast Guard, http : //www.marinf o.gc.ca/, 17/03/2010. Chow, V. T. (1959). Open-Channel Hydraulics. McGraw-Hill, New York. 84

Bibliography CHS (2007). Nautical Charts of the Fluvial Estuary, nr: 1313, 1314, 1315. Canadian Hydrographic Service, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. CRIACC (2010). Winter 2009-2010 Climate Summary. Ressources en Impacts et Adaptation au Climat et ` ses a www.criacc.qc.ca/climat/suivi/hiver0910/bilan e.html, 30/04/2010. Centre de Changements.

CSI (2010). SRTM 90m Digital Elevation Data, srtm.csi.cgiar.org, 30/04/2010. Consortion for Spatial Information. Dalrymple, R. W., Zaitlin, B. A., and Boyd, R. (1992). Estuarine facies models: conceptual basis and stratigraphic implications. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 62:11301146. Daly, S. F. (1984). Frazil Ice Dynamics. USA Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab Hanover, Monograph 84-1. Desplanque, C. and Bray, D. I. (1986). Winter ice regime in the tidal estuaries of the northeastern portion of the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 13(2):130139. Desplanque, C. and Mossman, D. J. (1998). A review of ice and tide observations in the Bay of Fundy. Atlantic Geology, 34(3):195209. DFO (1997). Atlas of Tidal Currents, St. Lawrence Estuary from Cap de Bon-Dsir to Troise Rivi`res. Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. e DFO (2010). Canadian Station Inventory and Data Download. Department of Ficheries and Oceans Canada, www.meds sdmm.df o mpo.gc.ca/isdm gdsi/twl mne/maps cartes/inventory inventaire eng.asp, 15/03/2010. Dionne, J.-C. (1963). Towards a more adequate denition of the St. Lawrence Estuary. Zeitschrift fr Geomorphologie N. F., 7:3644. u Dionne, J.-C. (1969). Tidal at erosion by ice at La Pocati`re St. Lawrence Estuary. Journal e of Sedimentary Petrology, 39(3):11741181. Dionne, J.-C. (1972). Caractristiques des schorres des rgions froides en particulier de e e lestuaire du Saint-Laurent. Zeitschrift fr Geomorphologie N. F., 13:131162. u Dionne, J.-C. (1973). La notion de pied de glace, en particulier dans lEstuaire du SaintLaurent. Cahiers de Geographie de Quebec, 17(41):221250. Dionne, J.-C. (1974). Mud cracks and polygons on ice push ridges, in tidal ats of the St. Lawrence Estuary. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 11:489494.

85

Bibliography Dionne, J.-C. (1985). Tidal marsh erosion by geese, St. Lawrence Estuary, Qubec. Gographie e e physique et Quaternaire, 39(1):99105. Dionne, J.-C. (1989). An estimate of shore ice action in a spartina tidal marsh, St. Lawrence Estuary, Quebec, Canada. Journal of Coastal Research, 5(2):281293. Dionne, J.-C. (1998). Sedimentary structures made by shore ice in muddy tidal-at deposits, St. Lawrence estuary, Quebec. Sedimentary Geology, 116(3-4):261274. Dolgopolova, E. M. and Mikhailova, M. (2008). Classication of Arctic River mouths and regularities of currents in icecovered estuaries. Proceedings, 19th IAHR International Symposium on Ice. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. EC (2009). Hydrography of the St. Lawrence River. Environment Canada, www.ec.gc.ca/stl/def ault.asp?lang = En&n = 59C4915D 1, 4/03/2010. EC (2010). National Climate Data and Information Archive. Environment Canada, www.climate.weatherof f ice.gc.ca/W elcome e.html, 17/03/2010. Eicken, H., Dmitrenko, I., Tyshko, K., Darovskikh, A., Dierking, W., Blahak, U., Groves, J., and Kassens, H. (2005). Zonation of the Laptev Sea landfast ice cover and its importance in a frozen estuary. Global and Planetary Change, 48(1-3):5583. El-Rabbany, A. (2002). Introduction to the global positioning system. Artech House. Emmerton, C. A., Lesack, L. F. W., and Vincent, W. F. (2008). Nutrient and organic matter patterns across the Mackenzie River, Estuary and Shelf during the seasonal recession of sea-ice. Journal of Marine Systems, 74(3-4):741755. Emond, J., Morse, B., Richard, M., Stander, E., and Viau, A. (2010). Surface ice observation on the St. Lawrence River using infrared thermography. unpublished article. Forbes, D. L. and Taylor, R. B. (1994). Ice in the shore zone and the geomorphology of cold coasts. Progress in Physical Geography, 18(1):5989. Fox, W. (2005). Encyclopedia of Coastal Science, chapter Bioerosion, pages 191192. Springer Netherlands. Fuller, K., Shear, H., and Wittig, J., editors (1995). The Great Lakes: An environmental atlas and resource book. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes Environmental Program Oce, Chicago; Government of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, 3 edition. Gates, E. T. and Herbich, J. B. (1977). Mathematical model to predict the behavior of deep-draft vessels in restricted waterways. Technical report, College Station, Texas, USA.

86

Bibliography Gordon, D. C. j. and Desplanque, C. (1981). Ice dynamics in the Chignecto Bay region of the Bay of Fundy. Proceedings, Workshop on Ice Action on Shores (Rimouski), Ottawa: National Research Council, pages 3552. Gutt, J. (2001). On the direct impact of ice on marine benthic communities, a review. Polar Biology, 24(8):553564. Houston, J. (2005). Geohydraulic Research Centers, chapter Ice-Bordered Coasts, pages 477 479. Springer Netherlands. IHO (1953). Limits of Oceans and Seas. International Hydrographic Organization, IMP Mongasque, Monte-Carlo, 3 edition. e Ingram, R. G. and Larouche, P. (1987). Changes in the under-ice characteristics of La Grande Rivi`re Plume due to discharge variations. Atmosphere-Ocean, 25(3):242250. e Johnson, L. E. (2007). Encyclopedia of Tidepools and Rocky Shores, chapter Ice Scour, pages 289291. University of California Press, Berkeley. Kovacs, A. and Sodhi, D. S. (1980). Shore ice pile-up and ride-up: Field observations, models, theoretical analyses. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 2:210288. Kuzyk, Z. A., Macdonald, R. W., Granskog, M. A., Scharien, R. K., Galley, R. J., Michel, C., Barber, D., and Stern, G. (2008). Sea ice, hydrological, and biological processes in the Churchill River Estuary region, Hudson Bay. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 77(3):369384. Macdonald, R. and Yu, Y. (2006). The Mackenzie Estuary of the Arctic Ocean. Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, pages 91120. Macdonald, R. W. (2000). The Freshwater Budget of the Arctic Ocean, chapter Arctic Estuaries and ice: a positive-negative estuarine couple, pages 383407. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands. Marsh, W. M., Marsh, B. D., and Dozier, J. (1973). Formation, structure, and geomporhic inuence of Lake Superior icefoots. American Journal of Science, 273(1):4864. Masselink, G. and Hughes, M. G. (2003). Introduction to coastal processes and geomorphology. Hodder Arnold. Matte, P. (2010). Personal communication. Ph.D Student Water Sciences, INRS, Qubec, e Canada. Meese, D. A., Gow, A. J., Mayewski, P. A., Ficklin, W., and Loder, T. C. (1987). The chemical, physical and structural properties of estuarine ice in Great Bay, New Hampshire. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 24(6):833840. 87

Bibliography Michel, B. (1978). Ice Mechanics. Les Presses de lUniversit Laval, Qubec. e e Morse, B. (2009). Estuary ice cover. unpublished work. Morse, B., Hamai, K., and Choquette, Y. (2005). River discharge measurement using the velocity index method. 13th Workshop on the Hydraulics of Ice Covered Rivers, Committee on River Ice Processes and the Environment, Hanover, N.H. Morse, B. and Richard, M. (2009). A eld study of suspended frazil ice particles. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 55(1):86102. Morse, B., Ringo, B., Messier, D., Thanh-Quach, T., and Stander, E. (2006a). Hydrodynamics of mesotidal estuary in winter. Journal of Cold Regions Engineering, 20(3):95115. Morse, B., Ringo, B., Stander, E., Robert, J.-L., Messier, D., and Thanh-Quach, T. (2006b). Growth and decay of estuary ice cover. Journal of Cold Regions Engineering, 20(3):7094. Morse, B., Stander, E., Ringo, B., Messier, D., and Thanh-Quach, T. (2003). Ice formation and break-up in meso-tidal estuaries. In Canadian Society for Civil Engineering - 31st Annual Conference: 2003 Building our Civilization, June 4, 2003 - June 7, 2003, volume 2003, pages 343350. MSC (2010). Meteorological Service of Canada. Environment Canada, Personal communication. Nelson, W. G. and Whitney, J. W. (1996). Description of summer and winter environmental conditions within Cook Inlet, Alaska. Proceedings, SPE Annual Western Regional Meeting, pages 381392. Partridge, V. A. (2001). Inuence of ice cover on sediment temperature and implications for intertidal benthic invertebrates on a Bay of Fundy mudat. 11th Workshop on th Hydraulics of Ice Covered Rivers. Richard, M. and Morse, B. (2008). Multiple frazil ice blockages at a water intake in the St. Lawrence River. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 53(2):131149. Rosen, P. S. (1979). Boulder barricades in Central Labrador. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 49(4):11131124. Sanders, R. E., Byers, C., and Baddour, E. (2008). Tidal power and migratory sub-suface ice in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. Technical report, The Fundy Tidal Energy Technical Advisory Group and The Ocean Energy Environmental Research Association. Scrosati, R. and Eckersley, L. K. (2007). Thermal insulation of the intertidal zone by the ice foot. Journal of Sea Research, 58(4):331334. 88

Bibliography Short, A. D. and Wiseman, W. J. (1974). Freezup processes on Arctic Beaches. Arctic, 27(3):215224. SLC (2010). Portal Site St. Lawrence Centre. St. Lawrence Centre, Environment Canada, http : //www.qc.ec.gc.ca/csl, 4/03/2010. Smith, G. C., Soucier, F., and Straub, D. (2006). Response of the lower St. Lawrence Estuary to external forcing in winter. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 3(8):14851501. Stander, E., Carter, D., and Morse, B. (2005). The eect of ship transport on fast ice stability. 13th Workshop on th Hydraulics of Ice Covered Rivers. Taylor, R. B. (1978). The occurence of grounded ice ridges and shore piling along the northern coast of Somerset Island. Northwest Territories Arctic, 31(2):133149. Thorp, J. H., Lamberti, G. A., and Casper, A. F. (2005). Rivers of North America, chapter St. Lawrence River Basin. Elsevier Academis Press. Troude, J. P. and Serodes, J. B. (1988). Role of ice in the morphosedimentological regime of a tidal at in the Saint Lawrence Middle Estuary. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 15(3):348354. Wiseman, W. J., Owens, E. H., and Kahn, J. (1981). Temporal and spatial variability of ice-foot morphology. Geograska Annaler. Series A, Physical Geography, 63(1-2):6980. WMO (1970). WMO sea-ice nomenclature: terminology, codes and illustrated glossary. Secretary of the World Meteorological Organization.

89

Part VI

Appendices

90

Appendices

Figure 1: Evolution of water levels and current velocities in the navigation channel near Champlain.

Figure 2: Evolution of water levels and current velocities in the navigation channel near Batiscan.

91

Appendices

Figure 3: Evolution of water levels and current velocities in the navigation channel near Grondines.

Figure 4: Evolution of water levels and current velocities in the navigation channel near Lotbini`re. e

92

Appendices

Figure 5: Evolution of water levels and current velocities in the navigation channel near Portneuf.

Figure 6: Evolution of water levels and current velocities in the navigation channel near Donnacona.

93

Appendices

Figure 7: Evolution of water levels and current velocities in the navigation channel near Neuville.

Figure 8: Evolution of water levels and current velocities in the navigation channel near Sillery.

94