Monitoring Suspended Sediment Dynamics Using MBES
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 1
Abstract
This technical note describes use of a multibeam echosounder (MBES) to quantify the dynamics of suspended sediment in a large open channel. A methodology is detailed that uses the backscatter magnitude from the MBES water-column data to adjust the magnitude of sonar returns for the various sonar settings, spatially and temporally average the data to account for the random nature of acoustic backscatter from the suspended sediment, and calibrate the processed data with direct samples. A case study of flow at the confluence of the Rio Paraná and Rio Paraguay, Argentina, where there is a distinct turbidity difference along the mixing interface of the two flows, is used to demonstrate the unique capabilities of MBES to quantify sediment concentrations and dynamics within the water column.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by Grant Nos. UNSPECIFIEDNER/A/S/2001/00445, UNSPECIFIEDNER/B/S/2003/00243, and UNSPECIFIEDNE/D014530/1 from the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council and a Royal Society Joint South-America Research Award. DP also acknowledges NERC for his Research Fellowship funding (UNSPECIFIEDNE/C002636/1). RESON and Myriax are acknowledged for their support of the partnership research program that facilitated this work and our thanks are extended to the staff of CECOAL (Argentina), and Lolo Roberto and Rocce Negro in particular, for their assistance in this research. We also thank Dan Shugar and Mark Franklin for their fieldwork assistance.UNSPECIFIED
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 1 • January 2010
Pages: 45 - 49
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 7, 2008
Accepted: Jun 1, 2009
Published online: Jun 2, 2009
Published in print: Jan 2010
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