This map features seven of the National Weather Service (NWS) river gages along the Mississippi River. The data can also be found here: https://water.noaa.gov.This map serves as a background map in the Mississippi Valley Hydro & Weather Story Map.

These data were automated to provide an accurate high-resolution historical shoreline of Mississippi River Delta, LA suitable as a geographic information system (GIS) data layer. These data are derived from shoreline maps that were produced by the NOAA National Ocean Service including its predecessor agencies which were based on an office interpretation of imagery and/or field survey. The NGS attribution scheme 'Coastal Cartographic Object Attribute Source Table (C-COAST)' was developed to conform the attribution of various sources of shoreline data into one attribution catalog. C-COAST is not a recognized standard, but was influenced by the International Hydrographic Organization's S-57 Object-Attribute standard so the data would be more accurately translated into S-57. This resource is a member of https://inport.nmfs.noaa.gov/inport/item/39808

The Mississippi River is North America’s largest river, flowing over 2,300 miles through America’s heartland to the Gulf of Mexico. The watershed not only provides drinking water, food, industry, and recreation for millions of people, it also hosts a globally significant migratory flyway and home for over 325 bird species. Leading the world in agricultural production, a healthy agricultural sector in the Mississippi River Basin is essential for maintaining the nation’s and the world’s food and fiber supply. USDA Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) cropland models show that conservation on cropland throughout the entire Mississippi River Basin has reduced nitrogen and sediment loading to the Gulf of Mexico by 28 percent and 45 percent, respectively, over what would be lost without conservation systems in place. With the CCA designation, USDA will build on existing strong partnerships in the basin to accelerate conservation in the 13-state area to continue to reduce nutrient and sediment loading to local and regional water bodies and to improve efficiency in using water supplies, particularly in the southern states. The CCA boundary was identified to harness the partnerships and momentum already established by NRCS’s Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI). With more than 600 partners engaged throughout the initiative area, MRBI has treated over 800,000 acres of agricultural land with systems of practices intended to avoid, control, and trap nutrient and sediment run-off and improve irrigation efficiency. This dataset includes a printer-friendly CCA map and shapefiles for GIS. Resources in this dataset:Resource Title: Mississippi River Basin. File Name: Web Page, url: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs-initiatives/rcpp-regional-conservation-partnership-program/critical-conservation-areas Information about the project and links to a printer-friendly CCA map (PDF, 1.2MB) and shapefiles for GIS (ZIP, 218KB).

The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) from The National Map (TNM) defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics. The drainage areas are nested within each other so that a large drainage area, such as the Upper Mississippi River, is composed of multiple smaller drainage areas, such as the Wisconsin River. Each of these smaller areas can further be subdivided into smaller and smaller drainage areas. The WBD uses six different levels in this hierarchy, with the smallest averaging about 30,000 acres. The WBD is made up of polygons nested into six levels of data respectively defined by Regions, Subregions, Basins, Subbasins, Watersheds, and Subwatersheds. For additional information on the WBD, go to https://nhd.usgs.gov/wbd.html. The USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) service is a companion dataset to the WBD. The NHD is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that encodes information about naturally occurring and constructed bodies of surface water (lakes, ponds, and reservoirs), paths through which water flows (canals, ditches, streams, and rivers), and related entities such as point features (springs, wells, stream gages, and dams). The information encoded about these features includes classification and other characteristics, delineation, geographic name, position and related measures, a "reach code" through which other information can be related to the NHD, and the direction of water flow. The network of reach codes delineating water and transported material flow allows users to trace movement in upstream and downstream directions. In addition to this geographic information, the dataset contains metadata that supports the exchange of future updates and improvements to the data. The NHD is available nationwide in two seamless datasets, one based on 1:24,000-scale maps and referred to as high resolution NHD, and the other based on 1:100,000-scale maps and referred to as medium resolution NHD. Additional selected areas in the United States are available based on larger scales, such as 1:5,000-scale or greater, and referred to as local resolution NHD. For more information on the NHD, go to https://nhd.usgs.gov/index.html. Hydrography data from The National Map supports many applications, such as making maps, geocoding observations, flow modeling, data maintenance, and stewardship. Hydrography data is commonly combined with other data themes, such as boundaries, elevation, structures, and transportation, to produce general reference base maps. The National Map viewer allows free downloads of public domain WBD and NHD data in either Esri File or Personal Geodatabase, or Shapefile formats. The Watershed Boundary Dataset is being developed under the leadership of the Subcommittee on Spatial Water Data, which is part of the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) and the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), along with many other federal agencies and national associations, have representatives on the Subcommittee on Spatial Water Data. As watershed boundary geographic information systems (GIS) coverages are completed, statewide and national data layers will be made available via the Geospatial Data Gateway to everyone, including federal, state, local government agencies, researchers, private companies, utilities, environmental groups, and concerned citizens. The database will assist in planning and describing water use and related land use activities. Resources in this dataset:Resource Title: Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD). File Name: Web Page, url: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/water/watersheds/dataset/?cid=nrcs143_021630 Web site for the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD), including links to:

Review Data Availability (Status Maps) Obtain Data by State, County, or Other Area Obtain Seamless National Data offsite link image
Geospatial Data Tools National Technical and State Coordinators Information about WBD dataset

Four digital water-surface profile maps for a 14-mile reach of the Mississippi River near Prairie Island in Welch, Minnesota from the confluence of the St. Croix River at Prescott, Wisconsin to upstream of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Lock and Dam No. 3 in Welch, Minnesota, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Prairie Island Indian Community. The water-surface profile maps depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of inundation corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage Mississippi River at Prescott, Wisconsin (USGS station number 05344500). Current conditions for estimating near-real-time areas of water inundation by use of USGS streamgage information may be obtained on the internet at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/. Water-surface profiles were computed for the stream reach using HEC-GeoRAS software by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater HEC-RAS hydraulic model using the steady-state flow computation option. The hydraulic model used in this study was previously created by the USACE . The original hydraulic model previously created extended beyond the 14-mile reach used in this study. After obtaining the hydraulic model from USACE, the HEC-RAS model was calibrated by using the most current stage-discharge relations at the USGS streamgage Mississippi River at Prescott, Wisconsin (USGS station number 05344500). The hydraulic model was then used to determine four water-surface profiles for flood stages referenced to 37.00, 39.00, 40.00, and 41.00-feet of stage at the USGS streamgage on the Mississippi River at Prescott, Wisconsin (USGS station number 05344500). The simulated water-surface profiles were then combined with a digital elevation model (DEM, derived from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) in Geographic Information System (GIS) data having a 0.35-foot vertical and 1.97-foot root mean square error horizontal resolution) in order to delineate the area inundated at each stage. The calibrated hydraulic model used to produce digital water-surface profile maps near Prairie Island, as part of the associated report, is documented in the U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5018 (https://doi.org/10.3133/ sir20215018). The data provided in this data release contains three zip files: 1) MissRiverPI_DepthGrids.zip, 2) MissRiverPI_InundationLayers.zip, and 3) ModelArchive.zip. The MissRiverPI_DepthGrids.zip and MissRiverPI_InundationLayers.zip files contain model output water-surface profile maps as shapefiles (.shp) and Keyhole Markup Language files (.kmz) that can be opened using Esri GIS systems (.shp files) or Google Earth (.kmz files), while the ModelArchive.zip contains model inputs, outputs, and calibration data used in creating the water-surface profiles maps.

A digital dataset of the geomorphology of the Lower Mississippi River Valley in Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi was developed from Roger T. Saucier’s “Geomorphology and Quaternary Geologic History of the Lower Mississippi Valley, Volumes I and II” (1994) as part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) Regional Water Availability Study. The maps included in the 1994 reports provide a comprehensive overview of the previously misunderstood alluvial valley geology and characterize twenty-nine Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial deposits, such as point bars, abandoned channels, backswamps, and natural levees. Each map was georeferenced to North American Datum 1983 and projected to USA Contiguous Albers Equal Conic (U.S. Geological Survey version) projection (standard parallels 29.5 and 45.5 degrees, central meridian -96 degrees, and latitude of origin 23 degrees). Once georeferenced (using ArcMap v 10.4.1), individual geomorphological features were dig ...

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Availability and Use Science Program study of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP), a shapefile representing seven generalized regions of the MAP extent as defined by Painter and Westerman (2018) was compiled. The generalized regions provide a framework for analysis, visualization, and regional comparisons of local data within the MAP. Regions north of the Red River were based on those described by Ackerman (1996). The Grand Prairie region includes the area north and east of the Arkansas River and south and west of the White River within the MAP. The Cache region includes the area north and east of the White River and the area generally west of Crowley’s Ridge, which lies outside of the MAP extent (Painter and Westerman, 2018), bisects the northern part of the MAP, and has elevations 100 to 250 feet (ft) higher than the MAP (Ackerman, 1996). The Delta region, which is roughly equivalent to the Yazoo River drainage, lies predomin ...

This map shows the approximate extent of overbank flooding in the Lower Mississippi River prior to extensive construction of levees. It was digitized from this map: https://fws.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=6941d5d2a1a84d05b771ef854a192d40 The original source map is derived from an online source (https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:7h14b0450). Map of the alluvial valley of the Mississippi River from the head of St. Francis Basin to the Gulf of Mexico, showing lands subject to overflow, location of levees and trans-alluvial profiles. The map shows the landscape configuration and the approximate extent of overbank flooding before extensive construction of the levees in the early 1900s. The map was georectified using ERDAS Imagine and contemporary data sources. Edited (to correct position of panels) and georeferenced by Yvonne Allen (USFWS) to geographic NAD1927 using ArcGIS , 3rd order polynomial and 80 ground control points using lat lon grid.Online repo: https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/58f66491e4b0bd52222f7821

An official map of Three Rivers Park District

Forest Inventory Phase II GIS data for the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge-Winona District. Data is based off U.S. Army of Corps Engineers' MVP-ES Forest Inventory Phase II Protocol. Data covers 2023 field season. All data have been further cleaned and edited. See attached protocol for data field definitions.

This set contains last return LiDAR DATA ( all shot ) orthometric & ellipsoidal elevations, last return LiDAR DATA ( bare earth ) orthometric elevations, first return LiDAR DATA ( digital surface model ) orthometric elevations as well as ARC ID, breakline and 10' contour shape files. Data set also includes color 2' pixel digital ortho tiles and a overall MrSid image of the Mississippi River project.

In 2020 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program, began a project to characterize potential hydrogeomorphic change associated with hydrogeomorphic units (HGUs) and their catenae (units linked by their association with sediment sources and flow origins). The objective of the project was to develop a geographic information system (GIS) database of HGUs for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) available to both scientists and river managers working on UMRR studies and Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Project (HREP) planning and design studies. Resulting data products, beginning with a pilot implementation in Navigation Pool 10, are contained in this ScienceBase data release. The HGU characterization was based on a hydrogeomorphic change hierarchical classification developed previously for the UMRS. The mapping products were generated with automated techniques in a GIS, with the use of systemic datasets. Landforms were mapped from the 2015 UMRS topobathymetric dataset with geomorphon (shape-based) tools tailored for the large riverscape, valley bottom environments in the UMRS. The resulting landforms were attributed with characteristics quantifying their hydrologic setting and connectivity, inundation regime, morphometry, proximity to anthropogenic structures, wave erosion potential, proximity to flow and sediment sources, and history of depositional planform change. A clustering analysis was applied to the landforms to identify HGUs associated with zones of perennial low flows, bankfull flows, and overbank floodplains. Catenae were assembled based on least-cost flowpath linkages originating from potential sediment origins within the main channel, side channels, and tributary mouths defined from previously published aquatic areas (USACE, 2018), and terminating at planform change units developed by Rogala, Fitzpatrick, and Henderson (2020).

This feature layer displays the Mississippi River drainage basin and its sub-basins. This data is sourced from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD).

This data set contains vector points representing airports, archaeological sites, beaches, facilities, heliports and platforms found in in coastal Louisiana and the lower Mississippi river. Location specific type and source information are stored in relational data tables (described below) designed to be used in conjunction with this spatial data layer. ESI data characterize the marine and coas...

This dataset contains polygons for the portion of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers bounding the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This data was digitized from 2 foot resolution 2006 FSA Color Ortho Imagery.Data Download: https://ky.box.com/v/energy-environment/file/850633516962

Here, we present the first-available dataset that quantifies land use change along the floodplains of the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) covering 60 years (1941-2000) at 250-m resolution. The MRB is the fourth largest river basin in the world (3.3 million sq km) comprising 41% of the United States and draining into the Gulf of Mexico, an area with an annually expanding and contracting hypoxic zone resulting from basin-wide over-enrichment of nutrients. The basin represents one of the most engineered systems in the world, and includes complex web of dams, levees, floodplains, and dikes. This new dataset reveals the heterogenous spatial extent of land use transformations in MRB floodplains. The domination transition of floodplains has been from natural ecosystems (e.g. wetlands or forests) to agricultural use. A steady increase in developed land use within the MRB floodplains was also evident.

To maximize the reuse of this dataset, our contributions also include four unique products: (i) a Google Earth Engine interactive map visualization interface: https://gishub.org/mrb-floodplain (ii) a Google-based Python code that runs in any internet browser: https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1vmIaUCkL66CoTv4rNRIWpJXYXp4TlAKd?usp=sharing (iii) an online tutorial with visualizations facilitating classroom application of the code: https://serc.carleton.edu/hydromodules/steps/241489.html (iv) an instructional video showing how to run the code and partially reproduce the floodplain land use change dataset: https://youtu.be/wH0gif_y15A

District boundaries for wild, scenic, and recreational rivers designated under the Minnesota State Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Includes portions of the Minnesota River, Mississippi River, Rum River, Kettle River, North Fork of the Crow River and the Cannon River.

Wisconsinan and Holocene Landform-Sediment Assemblages of the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Knowledge of the spatial distribution of natural and cultural resources is critical to maintaining sound resource management policies. By virtue of the fact that geomorphic units and geological deposits set boundary conditions on, among other variables, the age and depositional environment under which prehistoric resources may have accumulated, they constitute a basic unit of analysis in cultural and paleobiological resource management. Landform sediment assemblage (LSA) units (previously defined and mapped by Bettis et al. 1995) in the upper Mississippi River valley under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Corps of Engineers - Rock Island District, were digitized using ARC/INFO, a Geographic Information System (GIS) at a scale of 1:24,000. Additionally, a large scale (1:190,000) color poster showing the major LSA units was produced to visually summarize these geomorphic data for the entire project area.

The files linked to this reference are the geospatial data created as part of the completion of the baseline vegetation inventory project for the NPS park unit. Current format is ArcGIS file geodatabase but older formats may exist as shapefiles. ArcGIS software was used as the GIS platform for the onscreen digital mapping. Because the 3D images were viewed directly in the GIS environment, vegetation could be mapped directly into ArcGIS. The polygon vector data were stored using an ArcGIS file geodatabase, which was projected in in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), Zone 15, by using the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83). The NPS VIP standard MMU of 0.5 ha was applied to mapping forest and cultural types. For shrub, herbaceous, and sparsely vegetated types, as well as non-vegetation features, a MMU of 0.25 ha was applied. This smaller MMU was applied because these vegetation types were comparatively rare across the park, the degree of vegetation diversity over small areas was higher, and the isolated patches across MISS were more prevalent. For woodlands, a MMU of 0.5 ha was applied to deciduous woodlands and a MMU of 0.25 ha was applied to conifer woodlands due to the individual circumstances surrounding these woodlands. Also, when vegetation types were found unique to their immediate surroundings (e.g., an herbaceous wetland within an upland forest), mapping below the MMU was allowed. All geospatial products for the MISS vegetation mapping project have been projected in UTM, Zone 15, by using the NAD 83.

As part of the MRCCA program’s requirements, local units of government are required to map significant existing vegetative stands for planning purposes. These significant plant communities can be identified by referencing a community’s MRCCA plan, which was created using the layer file downloadable below. This data can also be obtained by referencing the MRCCA_sig attribute field in the shapefile. The vegetation data describing significant existing vegetative stands in the MRCCA has been derived from the National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Inventory Program (VIP), which mapped existing vegetation in all national park units, including the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA). The boundaries of the Minnesota-designated MRCCA are identical to the boundaries of the federally designated Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA). The NPS has made this data available for planning purposes in the MRCCA.

The “MRCCA Significant Existing Vegetative Stands” layer (.lyr) file, which was created by the DNR, was derived from the NPS’ inventory to only depict existing vegetation stands considered “significant.” The plant communities identified in this layer file were identified as significant because they are largely intact and connected and contain a sufficient representation of the original native plant community to be identifiable as a distinct class. Much of this vegetation includes an overstory or tree canopy that contributes to the scenic value of the MRCCA. This vegetation provides high ecological value in addition to the water quality and scenic values of “natural vegetation.” Ecologically, this vegetation provides species diversity, habitat for endangered and threatened plants (supporting 19 state-listed rare plant species and 15 state-listed rare animal species in the MRCCA), and a continuous corridor where plants and animals can naturally spread and disperse. This latter characteristic is especially important as habitat becomes more fragmented, climate change accelerates, and invasive species increase. In addition, these vegetation areas serve as living remnants of the original native communities that existed in the corridor, even though they do not meet the size and quality criteria to be classified as a Native Plant Community by the MBS.

The downloadable dataset contains files for the entire NPS VIP evaluation of the MNRRA, beyond just those categorized as “significant” for the purposes of the MRCCA. This evaluation was part of an effort to classify, describe, and map existing vegetation of national park units for the NPS Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program. The NPS VIP is managed by the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Division and provides baseline vegetation information to the NPS Natural Resource I&M Program. The USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, NatureServe, and NPS Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MISS) have completed vegetation classification and mapping of MISS for the NPS VIP.

Mappers, ecologists, and botanists collaborated to identify and describe vegetation types within the U.S. National Vegetation Classification (USNVC) and to determine how best to map them by using aerial imagery. Features were interpreted from viewing color-infrared digital aerial imagery dated September and October 2012 (during peak leaf-phenology change of trees) via digital onscreen three-dimensional stereoscopic workflow systems in geographic information systems (GIS). The interpreted data were digitally and spatially referenced, thus making the spatial database layers usable in GIS. Polygon units were mapped to either a 0.5 ha or 0.25 ha minimum mapping unit, depending on vegetation type.

For a full report on the National Park Service Vegetation Inventory Program mapping effort, see: National Park Service Vegetation Inventory Program (pdf, 54 MB)