Discharge-measurement system using an acoustic Doppler current profiler with applications to large rivers and estuaries

Simpson, Michael R.; Oltmann, Richard N.

doi:10.3133/ofr91487

Cited by 101 publications

(83 citation statements)

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“…Additional details and in-depth discussion of ADCP technology, methodology, and quality assurance and quality control can be found in USGS publications by Simpson and Oltmann (1993), in Lipscomb (1995), Morlock (1996), Oberg and others (2005), and Mueller and Wagner (2009). The ADCP method is a relatively new and evolving technology, and as a result, there are ongoing changes to the hardware, software, and firmware.…”

Section: Midsection Methods With An Adcpmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discharge measurements at gaging stations

Turnipseed¹,

Sauer²

2010

Techniques and Methods

344

206

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Front cover: On the left, photograph of a USGS hydrographer making a FlowTracker acoustic Doppler velocimeter discharge measurement at Little Eagle Creek at Speedway, Ind. (USGS station no. 03353600); on the right, photograph of a USGS hydrographer making a tethered boat acoustic Doppler current profiler discharge measurement from a cableway at the Snake River near Moran, Wyo. (USGS station no. 13011000). Back cover: In the background, 1890 black and white photograph of USGS hydrographers making a mechanical current meter discharge measurement from a cableway at the Arkansas River near Canyon City, Colo. (USGS station no. 07096000); and on the right, 1958 black and white photograph of a USGS hydrographer making a mechanical current meter discharge measurement at the Cedar River at Belgrade, Nev. (USGS station no. 06791800). For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod. Discharge Measurements at Gaging StationsTo order this and other USGS information products, visit

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Section: Midsection Methods With An Adcpmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discharge measurements at gaging stations

Turnipseed¹,

Sauer²

2010

Techniques and Methods

344

206

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“…As hypothesized by Smith (1971), the dynamic effects related to rapid changes in flow conditions seem, on average, to have little effect on the velocity distribution relations, except near slack water (Simpson and Oltmann 1993); more experimentation may however be needed to define suitable velocity profile functions if nonstandard conditions prevail (e.g., due to changes in bathymetry, secondary currents, strong shears, and turbulence). Although the f-t-s method was used to produce depth-aver- Table 1 (second column).…”

Section: Matte Et Al Rtk Gps/adcp Measurements In Tidal Riversmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Discharge in the unmeasured layers is extrapolated by fitting a one-sixth power curve through the measured data. Following Chen (1991), the power-law equivalent of Manning's formula for open channels has the form (Simpson and Oltmann 1993) …”

Section: Matte Et Al Rtk Gps/adcp Measurements In Tidal Riversmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to their ease of use and versatility, ADCPs have been increasingly used over the last two decades in systems ranging from small rivers to shelf seas (Howarth and Proctor 1992;Gunawan et al 2010), thus being favoured over conventional current measurement techniques. Their applications have expanded beyond the simple measurement of velocity fields, to river bathymetry and discharge monitoring (Simpson 2001;Yorke and Oberg 2002), the investigation of sediment transport (Kostaschuk et al 2005;Rennie and Church 2010), secondary flow (Dinehart and Burau 2005a;Szupiany et al 2007), shear stress (Lu and Lueck 1999a;Sime et al 2007), turbulence (Lu and Lueck 1999b;Nystrom et al 2007;Stone and Hotchkiss 2007), habitat quality (Shields and Rigby 2005), gravity currents (García et al 2007), and the validation of numerical models (Morin 2001).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Untitled

2014

Limnology & Ocean Methods

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Direct measurement of water levels and velocities can provide fundamental insight into the hydrodynamics of tidal rivers and estuaries. They represent a reliable source of data for the verification and calibration of numerical models. Such knowledge is also crucial for navigation, environmental assessments, and coastal protection and development. To reach a high level of description, measured data must cover a wide range of spatial and temporal variability. Long-term monitoring stations provide high-frequency records, but they are usually limited in number, thereby limiting their ability to represent spatial features of the flow. Conversely, satellitebased measurements provide synoptic snapshots of a region, but they are limited in their temporal resolution and interpretation of the velocity field. Boat surveys remain the best compromise between fixed measurements and remote sensing observations for the characterization of nonstationary hydrodynamic fields. They can ensure both spatial and temporal coverage, provided that the sampling strategy and resolution is adapted to the size and rate of evolution of the structures measured (e.g., Rixen et al. 2001).In the field, meeting these requirements is often a challenge, as both the instrumentation and survey strategy must meet the criteria and constraints set by the users (e.g., sampling requirements, finite measurement time, and resources) and by the environment (e.g., presence of tides, size of the river). This has been facilitated in part by the development of new technologies over the last decades, including acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) for water velocity meaQuantifying lateral and intratidal variability in water level and velocity in a tide-dominated river using combined RTK GPS and ADCP measurements AbstractCross-sectional gradients in water levels and velocities play a determining role in the circulation dynamics of tidal rivers and estuaries. Documenting and analyzing their variability throughout a tidal cycle require observations with high spatial and temporal resolution. A survey strategy and a data analysis procedure have been designed to obtain continuous and synoptic water level and velocity fields over a tidal cycle, along 13 cross-sections of the St. Lawrence fluvial estuary dominated by large tidal ranges. The method combines both RTK GPS and ADCP technologies for the simultaneous measurement of water levels and velocities along repeated boat transects, allowing fast data acquisition over wide river sections and under rapidly changing conditions. The reconstruction of continuous and synoptic fields is made by interpolation. Simplifying assumptions about data stationarity and/or homogeneity are avoided by adapting the interpolation procedures to the shape and distribution of the underlying data in a space-time reference frame, thus minimizing distortion in the reconstructed quantities. The capabilities and limitations of the method are assessed through error computations and comparisons with alternate data analysis methods and complement...

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“…1). River discharge measurements were made with a broad band acoustic Doppler current profiler (Simpson and Oltmann, 1993).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spring contributions to water quantity and nitrate loads in the Suwannee River during base flow in July 1995

Pittman¹,

Hatzell²,

Oaksford³

1997

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SummaryThe Suwannee River flows through an area of northcentral Florida where ground water has elevated nitrate concentrations. A study was conducted to determine how springs and other ground-water inflow affect the quantity and quality of water in the Suwannee River. The study was done on a 33-mile (mi) reach of the lower Suwannee River from just downstream of Dowling Park, Fla., to Branford, Fla. (fig. 1). Water samples for nitrate concentrations (dissolved nitrite plus nitrate as nitrogen) and discharge data were collected at 11 springs and 3 river sites during the 3-day period in July 1995 during base flow in the river.In the study reach, all inflow to the river is derived from ground water. Measured springs and other groundwater inflow, such as unmeasured springs and upward diffuse leakage through the riverbed, increased the river discharge 47 percent over the 33-mi reach. The 11 measured springs contributed 41 percent of the increased discharge and other ground-water inflow contributed the remaining 59 percent. River nitrate loads increased downstream from 2,300 to 6,000 kilograms per day (kg/d), an increase of 160 percent in the 33-mi study reach. Measured springs contributed 46 percent of this increase and other ground-water inflow contributed the remaining 54 percent.The study reach was divided at Luraville, Fla., into an 11-mi upper segment and a 22-mi lower segment to determine whether the ground-water inflows and nitrate concentrations were uniform throughout the entire study reach (fig. 1). The two segments were dissimilar. The amount of water added to the river by measured springs more than tripled from the upper to the lower segment. Even though the median nitrate concentration for the three springs in the upper segment (1.7 milligrams per liter (mg/L)) was similar to the median for the eight springs in the lower segment (1.8 mg/L), nitrate concentrations in the river almost doubled from 0.46 to 0.83 mg/L in the lower segment. Only 11 percent of the increase in nitrate load for the study reach occurred in the upper segment; the remaining 89 percent occurred in the lower segment. Measured springs were the major source of nitrate load in the upper reach and other ground-water inflow was the major source in the lower segment.Differences in nitrate loads between the upper and lower river segments are probably controlled by such factors as differences in the magnitude of the spring discharges, the size and location of spring basins, and the hydrologic characteristics of ground water in the study area. SuwanneeRiver Basin Area of StudyLocation of the area of study and the Suwannee River Basin upstream of Branford, Florida

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Discharge-measurement system using an acoustic Doppler current profiler with applications to large rivers and estuaries

Cited by 101 publications

References 0 publications

Discharge measurements at gaging stations

Discharge measurements at gaging stations

Untitled

Spring contributions to water quantity and nitrate loads in the Suwannee River during base flow in July 1995

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