The study focuses on a 4 km long reach of the braided Rees River near Glenorchy in western Otago.  The Rees occupies a formally glaciated valley and forms the northern branch of the larger Rees-Dart river system that is the primary feed for Lake Wakitipu.

 

Our research will concentrate on a section of the Rees upstream from the state highway bridge, to the first valley major constriction (pinch-point) where the river is incising through a short bedrock gorge. These two controls, provide ideal sites to monitor the river flow and flood hydraulics and we are installing sensor networks at these locations.  Data from these recording sites will be available on this website shortly.