FIELD TRIP

        A field trip is conducted on 02-03 June 2001 to obtain a better understanding of the Lower Altamaha Basin. The field trip covered a total of about 400 miles along the left and right banks of the Altamaha River and its main tributaries. Along this 400 mile trip, a total of 10 towns are visited in southern Georgia, namely: Lumber City, Hazlehurst, Baxley, Jesup, Brunswick, Darien, Ludowici, Glennville, Reidsville and Vidalia. The main points of interest are shown in the field trip map given on your right. You may read the highlights of the field trip in the following paragraphs or you may download a compact document written in Microsoft Word 6.0 showing the points of interest in the field trip and the associated pictures with brief descriptions. The document is approximately 25MB, so please be patient. 

        One of the main objective of the field trip was to observe the drainage characteristics of the watershed. These characteristics are analyzed and are to be used in river routing and overland flow models. The major drainage pattern of the southern Georgia is dominated by Ocmulgee and Oconee Rivers, which confluence near Lumber City to form the Altamaha River. Altamaha then flows to the Atlantic Ocean in its large floodplain with a meandering pattern. The largest tributary contribution to Altamaha is the Ohoopee River near Surrency, GA. Below, you will find some snapshots of the these drainage elements: 

USGS_station_02215500.jpg (30853 bytes)        An important aspect of hydrological modeling is to determine the extent and timing of the flood peak at a certain location along the river. In this regard, flow measurements made by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are an essential part of hydrological modeling. Of the several flow gaging stations important to us, the USGS Gaging Station 02215500 located on the USGS_station_02225000.jpg (55278 bytes)Ocmulgee River on US 23/341 GA 19/27 is shown to your right. This station is a real-time station, which sends its recorded data to the main server on a regular basis. Another real-time recording station is the USGS Gaging Station 02225000 located next to the highwayUSGS_station_02225500.jpg (23304 bytes) bridge on US 221 / GA 135 shown to your left. This station is also a real-time station and collects data from the Altamaha River. Last but not the least, the USGS Gaging Station 02225500 on Ohoopee River is shown to your right. The Ohoopee River is a major tributary of the Altamaha River and is located near Reidsville, GA. 

  

hatch-plant.jpg (27487 bytes)        Two major industrial facilities located in the Lower Altamaha watershed are the Edwin Hatch Nuclear Power Plant (shown left) near Baxley, GA and the Rayonier Pulp Mill (shown right) near Jesup, GA. Both facilities are established along the right bank of Altamaha. The Edwin Hatch Nuclear Power Plant has two units giving a total of 1630 MW generation capacity rayonier1.jpg (20350 bytes)and is operated by the Southern Company. The Rayonier Pulp Mill produces 570,000 ton per year premier grades of chemical cellulose or dissolving pulps used in the finest products around the world. Both the Hatch Plant and the Rayonier Mill is located next to two flow gaging stations. The Hatch Plant is located right next to the USGS Gaging Station 02225000 and the Rayonier Plant is located next to USGS Gaging Station 02226000.

 

agricultural-land.jpg (26059 bytes)        One other important objective of the field trip was to have a sound understanding of land cover/use characteristics of the watershed that becomes significant in determiningforest-clear-cut.jpg (36064 bytes) the  hydrological response to a meteorological event. The Lower Altamaha watershed is mostly covered by forests and wetlands. Agricultural land (shown left) is observed at relatively high elevations of the watershed. The world-famous Vidalia onions are produced in the basin. The high forest cover in the watershed supported lumber industry. Typically, forest plantations are clear cut (shown right) to harvest the timber and replanted again.

 

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