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<br />RESULTS <br /> <br />Ice Development and Breakup <br /> <br />Air temperatures in the upper Green River during the winters of 1993-94 and 1994-95 were <br />unusuallywarm. MonthlymaximaatJensen for December through March, 1993-94, were2.9-9.0oC <br />above normal and monthly minima were 2.9-4.90C above normal (Figure 4). Monthly maxima <br />during winterof1994-95 were 2.9-5.5 oC above normal and monthly minima were 3.5-1 0.5 oC above <br />normal. Despite similar above-normal air temperatures during both winters, mainstem water <br />temperatures in the nursery area were substantially different (Figure 5) because of the different <br />volumes of water released from Flaming Gorge Dam. Heat budget, as a product of monthly volume <br />and mean monthly temperature as released at the dam, was 67% higher in 1993-94 than in 1994-95; <br />mean monthly temperature of dam releases was approximately the same in both winters and ranged <br />from about 90C in November to 4 oC in January. Flow and river temperature for winters of 1987-88 <br />to 1994-95 at Green River and Jensen, Utah are presented in Appendix B, as a comparison with <br />preVIOUS years. <br /> <br />During winter, 1993-94, mean daily river temperatures near Jensen did not reach freezing <br />(O)C) until early February and temperatures below l.OoC were recorded only 4 days. An ice cap <br />10nned on the river near Jensen beginning February 2, 1994, but persisted only 5 days. During <br />winter of 1994-95, mean daily river temperatures near Jensen were frequently below 1.0oC, and an <br />ice cap covered the river from mid-December to late January for a period of 42 days. Minimum <br />mainstem temperatures for the three reaches during 1993-94 were similar with a range of -0.05 to <br />0.32 DC in Reach 1 (Island Park to Rainbow Bridge), -0.10 to 0.380C in Reach 2 (Split Mountain to <br />Bonanza Bridge), and 0.4 to O.soC in Reach 3 (Bonanza Bridge to Ouray). <br /> <br />During winter, 1993-94, when special releases were high with high fluctuations, river ice <br />through all three reaches was unstable with shoreline ice in Reaches 1 and 2 frequently collapsing <br />during low flows and multiple layers of shoreline ice forming at various river stages. There were <br />often large amounts of broken ice and frazil ice in the river following cold periods. Frazil ice <br />development was greatest in Reaches 1 and 2, where it was usually mixed in the water column <br />through steep canyon gradients and became suspended on the surface as large floating mats in lower <br />gradients. These mats, termed 'lily-pad ice' (Ashton 1980, 1983), were typically 1-3 m in diameter <br />and 0.3-0.5 m thick, and were the precursor to surface ice or an ice cap. <br /> <br />Ice jams were most common in Reach 2, near the Chew Bridge (RK 509) and Bonanza <br />Bridge (RK 467), and in Reach 3, near Leota Bottom (RK 409-411) and Old Charlie Wash (RK 401- <br />404). These ice jams typically formed when mats of jumbled, broken surface ice and frazil ice <br />became lodged in narrow portions of the channel, temporarily damming the river and diverting flow <br />into high water chute channels. Ice jams within 2 kIn downstream from the Bonanza Bridge <br />increased river stage locally by 1.0-1.3 m during both winters. Ice breakup occurred during February <br />and March of both winters with increasing air and water temperatures. Ice jams during breakup were <br />not as large and persistent as those that formed during colder periods. We note that breakup in the <br />Yampa River released large volumes of water and ice, contributing to breakup of the Green River. <br /> <br />11 <br />