Characterization of Multi‐Scale Fluvial Suspended Sediment Transport Dynamics Across the United States Using Turbidity and Dynamic Regression

Abstract

Suspended sediment (SS) is a critical component of the fluvial system. It helps drive the changing course of rivers, ecosystem habitat formation, and nutrient transport (Steffy & Shank, 2018;Vercruysse et al., 2017). Yet despite its physical and ecological functions, excess SS can also damage water quality, aquatic ecosystem health, and the longevity of water resources infrastructure (Duvert et al., 2010;Holtan et al., 1988;Mukundan et al., 2018). Effective management practices are crucial to mitigate SS related impairments, but they require accurate predictions and forecasts of sediment yield, as well as knowledge of the controlling factors that determine how sediment yield changes across timescales. A major challenge is to better understand and characterize fluvial system processes related to the stochastic and variable nature of the mobilization, storage and transportation of SS (Vercruysse et al., 2017).Sediment transport is largely controlled by the efficiency of flow energy used to move particles (Tananaev, 2013), and we can use the relationship between SS and flow (Q) to interpret hydro-sedimentary responses in catchments.