Surrogate technologies for monitoring suspended - sediment transport in rivers - Sedimentology of Aqueous Systems - page 8

(a)

Columbia
River 9
After Mt.
St. Helens
eruption
in 1980

St. Lawrence
River 1.4

36

Eel River
14

Susquehanna
River 1.8
Potomac
River 1.2

Peedee River
0.5

Colorado River 0.1

10

Mississippi
River

Brazos River

210

Concentration of suspended
sediment in rivers, in milligrams
per liter

0.7

Rio Grande

Discharge of suspended sediment
to the coastal zone, in millions
of tons per year.

(Area of semicircle
is proportional to
sediment volume)

Less than 300
300-2000

2000-6000
More than 6000

Concentration of
suspended sediment,
in milligrams per liter
Less than 500
500-2000
More than 2000
Discharge of suspended sediment
to the coastal zone, in millions
of tons per year.

(b)

Yukon River
50

23
(Area of semicircle
is proportional to
sediment volume)

Sustina River
23

Copper River
80 Fig. 1.4 Discharge of suspended

sediment to the coastal zone, in millions
of metric tonnes per year.

sedimentological regime, availability of electrical
power, limitations associated with accessibility,
safety considerations, and the time and complexity
associated with data analysis. Additionally, any such
information inevitably becomes obsolete due, in
part, to technological advances, marketing competi-
tion, and changes in currency valuation. Hence, rela-
tive purchase prices are proffered for the surrogate
instruments described herein compared with the
actual (summer 2008) purchase price for the most
common of the instruments, an in situ fully equipped
turbidimeter. In some instances, other relevant cost
information for a given technology that is considered

reliable is provided. That information may be con-
sidered in light of the fact that the cost to compute,
store, and provide a year's worth of daily SSL data
at a USGS streamgaging station in 2001 (adjusted for
infl ation in 2008 dollars) is estimated to range from
US$24,000 to US$78,000 (Gray 2003).

1.2 Technological advances in
suspended-sediment-surrogate
monitoring

The need for more affordable daily and more fre-
quent time-series data, and for data collected with