USGS CMG D-1-72-BS Metadata

Sediment dispersal of the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers.

Measurements of salinity and temperature, water turbidity, grain size
and concentration of suspended sediment, and grain size of bottom sediment.

Grab samples were collected with Van Dorn bottles and the filter
handling and weighing procedure was after Winneberger, Austin and Klett (1963).
The Kuskokwim data was synoptic; it was collected throughout the lower estuary
from a helicopter on the day of the ERTS imagery. Kuskokwim and Yukon River
sediment plumes were interpreted from multispectral scanner band 4 imagery of
the Earth Resources Technology Satellite *ERTS-1), collected between the hours
1100-1200 Bering Standard Time during mid to late ebb tides, except for plume
areas along the western shoreline of the Yukon subdelta where mid to late flood
tides were occurring. ERTS imagery MSS band 5 for Kuskokwim River sediment plume
was made on August 31, 1972, and MSS band 4 for Yukon River sediment plume was
made on August 11, 1973. Grain-size composition of suspended and bottom
sediments of the lower Kuskokwim River and upper Kuskokwim Bay was collected on
August 30 and 31, 1972. Weight percent of the <0.62 mm size fractions was
determined by the hydrophotometer method of Jordan, Freyer, and Hermen (1971)
and of the >0.62 mm size fraction by sieving at 0.062 mm for sand and at 2 mm
for gravel. Visibility depths of 25 cm Secchi disc in lower Kuskokwim River and
upper Kuskokwim Bay were made on August 30 and 31, 1972.