Author(s): Flora Pomazi; Leonardo Schippa; Massimo Guerrero; Nils Ruther; Sandor Baranya
Linked Author(s): Sándor Baranya, Leonardo Schippa, Nils Rüther, Massimo Guerrero
Keywords: Coustic theory multi-frequency suspended sediment
Abstract: Acoustic methods are increasingly applied for high resolution mapping and monitoring of suspended sediment transport in various aquatic environments. However, the variation of sediment characteristics often results in loose correlation between the observed sediment concentration and corrected backscatter by means of ADCP (acoustic Doppler current profiler) profiling. That limits ADCP methods’ application to a specific river section either to a range of hydrological events (i. e., the calibration dataset). In this study, we analyze corresponding acoustic signals of two instruments operating at significantly different frequencies (i. e., a 1.2 MHz ADCP and an 8.0 MHz acoustic backscatter sensor) to propose a model for estimating the suspended sediment concentration via backscatter correction, using a dual-frequency method. This widens ADCP profiling application to asses suspended sediment concentration in silt-clay dominated environment, such as is the case of the Danube River, where the corrected backscatter strongly depends on the backscatter coefficient rather than the actual SSC.
Year: 2025