Detection of Sand Boil Locations Along the Mississippi River in Fulton County, Kentucky

During the past years, the Jackson Purchase area of Kentucky has received significant amounts of rainfall. Coinciding with this increase of rainfall has been a large amount of snowfall over the tributaries of the Mississippi River in states north of Kentucky. Fulton County maintains a 17 mile long section of this floodway on the Kentucky north of the stateline border with Tennessee. Within the time span from 2008 to 2011, the river gage at Cairo, Illinois has reached flood stage sixteen times, moderate flood stage seven times and major flooding three times. In the months from February to May of 2011, major flooding occurred within the confluence area of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers reaching a stage of 61.72 feet. Prior to breach of the Birds Point levee on May 2, 2011 in Mississippi County Missouri, the levees in Fulton County were subject to extreme hydraulic pressure. This caused sand boils to form. Sand boils occur when water from the river is forced below levees and then “boils” to the surface on the land side of the levees. This research had two objectives. The first objective was to find out how remotely sensed data can be used to identify the locations of sand boils. The second objective was to compare results from remote sensing results based on ground soil tested data.