Comparison of Acoustic to Optical Backscatter Continuous Measurements of Suspended Sediment Concentrations and Their Characterization in an Agriculturally Impacted River
by
Zacharie Sirabahenda 1,*
, André St-Hilaire 1, Simon C. Courtenay 2 and Michael R. van den Heuvel 3
Zacharie Sirabahenda 1,*, André St-Hilaire 1, Simon C. Courtenay 2 and Michael R. van den Heuvel 3
1
Canadian Rivers Institute, INRS-ETE, 490 Rue de la Couronne, Québec City, QC G1K 9A9, Canada
2
Canadian Rivers Institute, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
3
Canadian Rivers Institute, Department of Biology, University of Prince Edward Island, 550 University Avenue, Charlottetown, PEI C1A 4P3, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Water 2019, 11(5), 981; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11050981
Received: 19 March 2019 / Revised: 18 April 2019 / Accepted: 8 May 2019 / Published: 10 May 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of Water and Sediments and Their Implications for Integrated Watershed Management)
The increased soil loss in an agricultural watershed raises challengers for river water quality and a reliable automated monitoring for suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) is crucial to evaluate sediment budgets variation in systems. The aims of this study were (1) to test if an acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) would give similar results to turbidity probe measurements as a high frequency monitoring tool for suspended sediment; and (2) to analyze the relationship between sediment drivers and SSC in a typical agricultural drainage basin. The acoustic and optical backscatter sensors were used to collect SSC data during the ice-free seasons of four consecutive years in the Dunk River (PEI, Canada). The slopes of the relationships between the two SSC indirect measurements were not significantly different than 1. Correlations between SSC and hydro-meteorological variables showed that the high SSC values were more associated with the streamflow and water velocity than precipitation. This study highlighted the great potential of ADCP for the continuous monitoring of suspended sediment in an agricultural watershed. For summer periods the prevalence of clockwise hysteresis (74.1% of measured rainstorm events with SSC > 25 mg L−1) appeared related to rainstorm behaviors.
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Keywords:
turbidity; ADCP; sediment dynamic; agricultural watershed
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MDPI and ACS Style
Sirabahenda, Z.; St-Hilaire, A.; Courtenay, S.C.; van den Heuvel, M.R. Comparison of Acoustic to Optical Backscatter Continuous Measurements of Suspended Sediment Concentrations and Their Characterization in an Agriculturally Impacted River. Water 2019, 11, 981.
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