Pathfinder: The use of multibeam echo-sounding in quantifying and monitoring water quality and sediment fluxes in aquatic environments

探路者：使用多波束回声探测来量化和监测水生环境中的水质和沉积物通量

• 批准号: NE/J011428/1
• 负责人: Daniel Parsons
• 金额: $ 1.71万
• 依托单位: University of Leeds
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2011 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FJ011428%2F1
• 关键词: Pathfinder; use; multibeam; echo; sounding

All natural water flows on the Earth's surface transport sediment (including muds, sands and silts), both along their beds and also suspended within the flow. Sediment transport and deposition result in a wide scale of features from the smallest-scale sand ripples to the largest river deltas and submarine sediment fans. Additionally, understanding the transport of sediment is vital in assessing the fate of pollutant particles in many environments and in a range of industrial applications, such as the erosion and transport of sediment around engineering structures, for instance around bridges and sub-sea installations and during dredging operations. In order to better understand the transport and deposition of sediment in the natural environment, and thus feed this into environmental management strategies (and the meeting of the water framework directive), we require methods that will allow us to measure the shape, or morphology, of the bed (sea bed, lake bed, river bed) surface and measure the transport of sediment. Recent years have seen astonishing progress in the development of multibeam echo sounding (MBES) systems, which use an array of echo-sounder beams to measure the form of the surface at the base of water flows (such as the bed of oceans or rivers) at a very high accuracy (down to millimeters in vertical precision). These instruments use the reflection of sound from the bed to measure the depth of the fluid, and hence construct detailed maps of the bed sediment surface. These instruments allow us to view the bottom of rivers and oceans as if all the water had been slowly drained, and the depositional form left untouched and perfectly displayed. This technique has generated a step change in how we can view the Earth's surface, which depositional forms are present and how we may interpret them and such high-resolution surveys also allow us to look at the change in shape at different time periods, and thus assess changing sediment volumes in time, in response to both human impacts and natural changes.Under a recently completed NERC Partnership Grant the applicants, with Project Partners RESON, have developed a methodology using MBES for concurrently quantifying bathymetry and the concentrations and fluxes of suspended sediment within the water column, using information contained in the acoustic returns derived from the passage of the acoustic sound beams through the water column. We have developed a suite of processing codes and software that conducts the analysis of these vast data sets and have assembled a set of calibrations for converting the acoustic returns into quantifiable sediment concentrations. The goal of this follow on fund project will be to examine and define the full potential for the commercial exploitation of the technique, most likely through the integration of our codes and routines within IVS3D's Fledermaus, one of the world leaders in the processing and display of 3D time-varying datasets. IVS3D are project partners in this application and the full route to market and commercial exploitation analysis will be conducted by TechnologyfromIdeas (included in the project as partners), who are an independent technology transfer consultancy contracted by the University of Leeds Business and Enterprise Centre. They will provide full market assessments and reports related to the potential commercialisation of the technology.

地球表面的所有天然水流都会沿着河床和悬浮在水流中输送沉积物（包括泥、沙和淤泥）。沉积物输送和沉积导致了从最小规模的沙波纹到最大的河流三角洲和海底沉积扇的广泛特征。此外，了解沉积物的迁移对于评估许多环境和一系列工业应用中污染物颗粒的命运至关重要，例如工程结构周围沉积物的侵蚀和迁移，例如桥梁和海底设施周围以及在疏浚作业。为了更好地了解沉积物在自然环境中的运输和沉积，从而将其纳入环境管理战略（以及水框架指令的会议），我们需要能够测量形状或形态的方法，床（海床、湖床、河床）表面并测量沉积物的输送。近年来，多波束回声探测（MBES）系统的发展取得了惊人的进展，该系统使用一系列回声探测波束来测量水流底部（例如海洋或河流的床）的表面形状以非常高的精度（垂直精度低至毫米）。这些仪器利用床的声音反射来测量流体的深度，从而构建床沉积物表面的详细地图。这些仪器使我们能够观察河流和海洋的底部，就好像所有的水都被慢慢排干，而沉积形态却完好无损地展现出来。这项技术使我们如何观察地球表面、存在哪些沉积形式以及我们如何解释它们产生了阶跃变化，这种高分辨率的勘测还使我们能够观察不同时间段的形状变化，从而及时评估不断变化的沉积物体积，以应对人类影响和自然变化。根据最近完成的 NERC 合作伙伴资助计划，申请人与项目合作伙伴 RESON 一起开发了一种使用 MBES 同时量化水深测量以及悬浮沉积物浓度和通量的方法内水柱，使用从声学声束穿过水柱获得的声返回中包含的信息。我们开发了一套处理代码和软件，用于对这些庞大的数据集进行分析，并组装了一套校准方法，用于将声波返回转换为可量化的沉积物浓度。该后续基金项目的目标将是检查和定义该技术商业开发的全部潜力，最有可能通过将我们的代码和例程集成到 IVS3D 的 Fledermaus 中，IVS3D 的 Fledermaus 是处理和显示图像的世界领先者之一。 3D 时变数据集。 IVS3D 是该应用程序的项目合作伙伴，完整的市场路线和商业开发分析将由 TechnologyfromIdeas（作为合作伙伴包含在该项目中）进行，该公司是与利兹大学商业和企业中心签约的独立技术转让咨询公司。他们将提供与该技术潜在商业化相关的完整市场评估和报告。