U.S. Geological Survey bedload sampling policy

During the late 1960's, the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Water Resources Division (WRD) developed the Helley-Smith bedload sampler. Since then, the USGS and the Technical Committee of the Federal Interagency Subcommittee on Sedimentation (Technical Committee) have performed extensive flume and field studies concerning the calibration and use of bedload samplers. The policy and guidelines described in this paper are the results of this effort and are the current USGS policy and guidelines for the collection of bedload data.