Wax Lake Delta Water Level Measurements with Millimeter Accuracy

Water surface elevation data was collected at 10 sites in Louisiana's Wax Lake Delta during a one-week campaign in October 2016. Measurements were recorded every five minutes using in-situ pressure transducers, achieving millimeter accuracy for relative changes. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration produced this dataset to calibrate and validate remote sensing observations and hydrodynamic models for the Pre-Delta-X campaign.

Use Cases

• Calibrating airborne lidar water level profiles from campaigns like Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO).
• Validating hydrodynamic models of the Mississippi River Delta floodplain.
• Analyzing short-term tidal or flow-induced water surface elevation changes in a deltaic environment.
• Studying the relationship between atmospheric pressure fluctuations and measured water column height.

Strengths

• Data has millimeter accuracy for measuring water surface elevation change.
• Measurements were recorded at a high temporal resolution of every five minutes over a one-week period.
• An absolute elevation correction was applied using an iterative approach with USGS and ASO lidar data.
• The dataset's cross-platform presence on NASA and government portals signals its importance for calibration.

Limitations

• The dataset is limited to a single week in October 2016, providing only a temporal snapshot.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one showing 2016 and another showing 2026, suggesting possible metadata errors.
• Specific column names and the total row count are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Field measurements using in-situ Solinst pressure transducers (total pressure transducer and temperature detector), with absolute elevation correction via USGS station data and ASO lidar profiles.

Time Range

2016-10 13 to 2016-10-20

Freshness

2026-03-12 22:33:15.937744

Geography

10 locations across the Wax Lake Delta, Atchafalaya Basin, Southern Louisiana, USA, within the Mississippi River Delta floodplain.