fetch_calculate: Calculate Fetch for Lake Sampling Sites

In lakefetch: Calculate Fetch and Wave Exposure for Lake Sampling Points

Calculate Fetch for Lake Sampling Sites

Description

Main entry point for fetch calculation. Takes sites and lake boundaries, calculates directional fetch using ray-casting, and returns results with exposure metrics.

Usage

fetch_calculate(
  sites,
  lake,
  depth_m = NULL,
  fetch_method = NULL,
  add_context = TRUE,
  find_max_fetch = FALSE
)

Arguments

sites	Data frame or sf object with site locations
lake	Lake boundary data from get_lake_boundary
depth_m	Water depth in meters for orbital velocity calculation. Can be a single value (applied to all sites), a vector (one per site), or NULL to use depth from sites data or default from options.
fetch_method	Method for calculating effective fetch. Options: "top3" Mean of the 3 highest directional fetch values (default) "max" Maximum directional fetch value "cosine" SPM/CERC cosine-weighted average. Uses 9 radials centered on the direction of maximum fetch at 6-degree intervals, weighted by cosine of angle from center. Based on Shore Protection Manual (1984). If NULL, uses the value from lakefetch_options.
add_context	Logical; add NHD context if available (default TRUE)
find_max_fetch	Logical; if TRUE, finds the location in each lake with the maximum possible fetch using a longest-internal-chord algorithm. The result is returned as a $max_fetch element in the output list. Default FALSE.

Details

For each site, the function:

1. Assigns the site to its containing lake polygon

2. Buffers the site inward from shore (GPS accuracy adjustment)

3. Casts rays in all directions at specified angle resolution

4. Measures distance to shore in each direction

5. Calculates summary metrics (mean, max, effective fetch)

6. Calculates orbital velocity using depth

7. Derives exposure category (Sheltered/Moderate/Exposed)

Exposure thresholds can be configured via lakefetch_options.

Value

A list with elements:

results	sf object with fetch results for each site
lakes	sf object with lake polygons used
angles	Vector of angles used for fetch calculation
max_fetch	(only if find_max_fetch = TRUE) sf object with one row per lake containing the maximum fetch location, chord length (meters), and chord bearing (degrees)

References

Shore Protection Manual (1984). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coastal Engineering Research Center. 4th Edition.

Examples

csv_path <- system.file("extdata", "sample_sites.csv", package = "lakefetch")
sites <- load_sites(csv_path)
lake <- get_lake_boundary(sites)
results <- fetch_calculate(sites, lake)

# With explicit depth
results <- fetch_calculate(sites, lake, depth_m = 5)

# Using cosine-weighted effective fetch (SPM method)
results <- fetch_calculate(sites, lake, fetch_method = "cosine")

# Access results
results$results  # sf with all fetch data
results$lakes    # lake polygons

# Find the location with maximum fetch in each lake
results <- fetch_calculate(sites, lake, find_max_fetch = TRUE)
results$max_fetch  # sf with max fetch location per lake

lakefetch documentation built on March 20, 2026, 5:10 p.m.