Hypothetical Riverine Cross-Section with Four Sediment Acoustic Methods and Multifrequency Sidelooking Acoustics Highlighted

Visualization of four acoustic methods for measuring suspended sediment in a fluvial system: downlooking acoustics, point acoustics, single frequency sidelooking acoustics, and multifrequency sidelooking acoustics. The multifrequency sidelooking acoustics method is highlighted by a white, dashed box.

The illustration depicts a river channel looking downstream with a cross-sectional view of the river showing different acoustic instruments and a boat in the channel. In the foreground, there is a rail on the right bank which is extending down into the water at a steep angle. In the middle of the rail, there are two acoustic Doppler velocity meters (ADVMs) side by side, illustrating multifrequency sidelooking acoustics. The ADVM on the left has two beams spreading into the middle of the channel and a beam extending to the water surface. There is a white, dashed box that highlights the multifrequency sidelooking acoustics sensors and “multifrequency sidelooking acoustics” text. To the left or downstream of these two ADVMs there is a second rail also extending into the water. In the middle of the rail, there is one ADVM, illustrating single frequency sidelooking acoustics. To the left or downstream of this one ADVM, there is point acoustic sensor that is cylindrical shaped, illustrating point acoustics. All four of these acoustic sensors have cables from the sensors that go up to a data collection platform on the right bank of the river. Near the left bank of the river there is a boat on the river with three people in the boat. One person is operating a white suspended-sediment sampler in the front of the boat. In the middle of the boat the second person is operating a downlooking acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP), illustrating downlooking acoustics. The third person is driving the boat. From the left bank to the middle of the channel there is an overlay of suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) estimates that were processed from the ADCP data. The SSC estimates are highest in the middle and near the bottom of the channel and are lowest near the left bank of the river in this illustration.