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Canal and river tests of a RiverSonde streamflow measurement system

Calvin C. Teague, Donald E. Barrick, Peter Lilleboe
CODAR Ocean Sensors, Ltd., 1000 Fremont Avenue, Suite 145, Los Altos, CA 94024
650-941-5897, fax 408-773-0514
cal@alpha.stanford.edu, don@codaros.com, pete@codaros.com

Ralph T. Cheng
U. S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025
rtcheng@usgs.gov

Abstract

Results of field tests of a RiverSonde streamflow radar are compared with in-situ current measurements at a canal and a river in central California during June, 2000. Typical water velocity in the middle of the canal was about 0.45 ms^–1 and 0.30 ms^–1 at the edges. Velocity in the river was about 20% lower with similar cross-channel variation. Differences between the RiverSonde and in-situ velocities were 6–18% of the mean flow, with similar differences among the various in-situ velocities. In addition to the surface velocities, the total volume flow was estimated based on the in-situ depth measurements. Volume flow for the canal was about 37 m³s^–1and for the river was about 64 m³s^–1, with differences between the various radar and in-situ techniques of less than 10%.

Citation: Teague, C.C., Barrick, D.E., Lilleboe, P., and Cheng, R.T., 2001, Canal and river tests of a riversonde measurement system, in IEEE 2001 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Sydney Australia, p. 1288-1290.