Four new technologies were combined to investigate morphological change
along a 4 km reach of the 1-km-wide, braided, gravel-bed Waimakariri
River on New Zealand's South Island. River-bed topography was surveyed
four times over 15 months, capturing the change caused by near-bankfull
flood events. Dry areas of river bed were surveyed either with digital
photogrammetry or airborne laser scanning. A combination of
remote-sensing and ground-based bathymetry was used to survey the beds
of wetted braids. Two video cameras, mounted 35 m above the river bed,
provide hourly daytime imagery of the central area of the study reach
and an invaluable record of the coherence of morphologic features. This
data set provides a view of form and process in a large braided river
that has hitherto only been possible in laboratory channels, and
identifies features such as low relief drainage basins that appear to
be unique to field-scale braided channels.