Ames Open Space Flooding
A view of flooding in the Ames Open Space in Old Lyme, CT
This trail map can be found on the Old Lyme Open Space Commission's website ( here ).
The Deborah & Edward Ames Open Space is a 220 acres property in Old Lyme, CT.
As seen in the current trail map, parts of the Blue trail and Woods Road trail to Whippoorwill Road are impassable due to flooding. These areas are indicated by blue ovals. As such, the Whippoorwhill Trailhead is closed.
To read more about the changing landscape, visit https://www.oldlyme-ct.gov/open-space-commission/pages/ames-family-open-space-deborah-and-edward-ames-open-space
The following Aerial images from 2012 and 2018 show the change in water levels that have led to the trail closure.
The red ellipses highlight the flooded area that has led to trail closures. Left: NAIP aerial image from July 21th, 2012. Right: NAIP aerial image from August 10th, 2018.
NAIP imagery has four spectral bands of data: Red, Green, Blue (as used in familiar images like the two shown above), and Near-Infrared. This allows for an enhanced view of the change in water bodies by using a Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI).
To read more about NAIP, visit here: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/aerial-photography/imagery-programs/naip-imagery/
To read more about raster data, visit here: https://datacarpentry.org/organization-geospatial/01-intro-raster-data/
The following are the same aerial images shown using the Normalized Difference Water Index.
As shown in the images above, the area of high water content increases drastically in the 2018 image. This highlights the significant change in landscape that has taken place in this area in a short amount of time.
The map below shows the basic topography of the area.
The wetland soil and contour data can be found at the CT DEEP GIS Open Data Website: https://ct-deep-gis-open-data-website-ctdeep.hub.arcgis.com/pages/gis-data---downloadable-feature-layers
