Estimation of Suspended Sand Concentrations with an Acoustic Doppler Profiler, Parana River - Argentina

SZUPIANY, RICARDO N.; AMSLER, MARIO L.; FEDELE, JUAN J.

Urbana-Champaign, IL

Simposio; 4TH IAHR Symposium on River, Coastal and Estuarine Morphodynamics; 2005

University of Illinois

The standard procedures used for sampling suspended sands in large streams require the vessel to be anchored at several verticals during a certain period of time. These methods are usually time- onsuming, rather expensive, and have a limited spatial resolution. Acoustic Doppler technology has been recognized as a potential tool that can give quantitative information on suspended sediment concentrations through the analysis of the intensity of the backscattering strength. In this paper the backscatter intensity of an ADP and measured suspended sand concentrations obtained using a classic depth-integrating sampler are correlated with fairly good results when compared with the theoretical straight line slope suggested by the equipment manufacturer. The size of the suspended particles was a relevant factor that affected the consistency of results since the backscatter intensity is strongly influenced by the coarser particles carried in suspension (sands). Further recommendations are given to appraise the results extent.