Investigation of echo sounding parameters for the characterisation of bottom sediments in a sub-tropical reservoir


Submitted: 9 November 2015
Accepted: 17 June 2016
Published: 7 July 2016
Abstract Views: 3167
PDF: 1124
HTML: 861
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

The increasing number of reservoirs around the world today reaches a surface area of around 500,000 km², equaling one third of that of non-artificial surface water bodies. By impounding rivers through the construction of dams, riverine systems and biochemical cycles are disrupted. Different types of transported materials are trapped behind the dams and form layers of sediment. A method to characterise the spatially extensive sediment volumes with an EA 400 echo sounder was tested in the Vossoroca reservoir in the southeast of Brazil, Paraná State. A number of core and grab samples was taken and analysed for a variety of chemical and physical parameters. These data served as ground truthing for the hydro-acoustic assessment of the sediment. Eight hydro-acoustic parameters were derived from the echo signals using the Sonar5-Pro software. The major objective of defining the optimal survey parameters for the echo sounder as well as determining the difference between core and grab samples was reached by correlating the various single parameters and identifying the best combinations. Density and grain size distribution represented the best detectable sediment features with r-values of 0.94 and 0.95. The lower 38 kHz frequency generally had a better performance than the 200 kHz frequency. Results show that core samples reached a significantly higher quality of correlation for sediment characterisation. Additionally, it is was found that shorter pulse lengths yield a better characterisation. The results underline the potential of single beam echo sounders for extensive sediment characterisation. This methodology may be used for future mass balance estimations of large reservoirs.


Amiri-Simkooei AR, Snellen M, Simons DG, 2011. Principal component analysis of single-beam echo-sounder signal features for seafloor classification. IEEE J. Ocean. Eng.36:259-272.

Anderson AL, Abegg F, Hawkins JA, Duncan ME, Lyons AP, 1998. Bubble populations and acoustic interaction with the gassy floor of Eckernförde Bay. Cont. Shelf Res. 18:1807-1838.

Anderson JT, van Holliday D, Kloser R, Reid DG, Simard Y, 2008. Acoustic seabed classification: current practice and future directions. ICES J. Mar. Sci. 65:1004-1011.

Anderson MA, Martinez D, 2015. Methane gas in lake bottom sediments quantified using acoustic backscatter strength. J. Soil. Sediment. 15:1246-1255.

Anderson MA, Pacheco P, 2011. Characterization of bottom sediments in lakes using hydroacoustic methods and comparison with laboratory measurements. Water Res. 45:4399-4408.

Balk H, Lindem T, Sánchez-Carnero N, 2011. Sonar4 and Sonar5 post processing systems. Operator manual version 6.0.1. Extension for Seabed Classification Tool.

Bentrem FW, Sample J, Kalcic MT, Duncan ME, 2002. High-frequency acoustic sediment classification in shallow water. Oceans-IEEE 1:7-11.

Burczynski J, 1999. Bottom classification. Available from: www.biosonicsinc.com

Deutsches Institut fuer Normung e.V., 2005. Aggregates test methods. Determination of particle size distribution by wet sieving. Beuth Verlag GmbH.

Deutsches Institut fuer Normung e.V., 2007. Characterization of waste. Determination of loss on ignition in waste, sludge and sediments. Beuth Verlag GmbH.

Dunbar JA, Allen PM, Higley PD, 1999. Multifrequency acoustic profiling for water reservoir sedimentation studies. J. Sediment. Res. 69:521-527.

Freitas R, Sampaio L, Oliveira J, Rodrigues AM, Quintino V, 2006. Validation of soft bottom benthic habitats identified by single-beam acoustics. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 53:72-79.

Friedl G, Wüest A, 2002. Disrupting biogeochemical cycles - Consequences of damming. Aquat. Sci. 64:55-65.

Guillard J, Godlewska M, Colon M, Doroszczyk L, Dlugoszewski B, 2009. Standardization of hydroacoustic methods - Effect of pulse duration. In: Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. and Exhibition of Underwater Acoustic Measurements: Technologies & Results, Nafplion, Greece.

Hamilton LJ, Parnum I, 2011. Acoustic seabed segmentation from direct statistical clustering of entire multibeam sonar backscatter curves. Cont. Shelf Res. 31:138-148.

Harris MM, Avera WE, Abelev A, Bentrem FW, Bibee LD, 2008. Sensing shallow seafloor and sediment properties. Recent history. Oceans-IEEE 2008(Suppl.):1-11.

Niederreiter R, 2012. Uwitech sampling equipments. Available from: www.uwitec.at/html/frame.html

Odhiambo BK, Boss SK, 2004. Integrated echo sounder, GPS, and GIS for Reservoir sedimentation studies: examples from two Arkansas lakes. J. Am. Water Resour. As. 40:981-997.

Orlowski A, 1984. Application of multiple echoes energy measurements for evaluation of sea bottom type. Oceanologia 1984:61-78.

Ostrovsky I, Tęgowski J, 2010. Hydroacoustic analysis of spatial and temporal variability of bottom sediment characteristics in Lake Kinneret in relation to water level fluctuation. Geo-Mar. Lett. 30:261-269.

Parnum I, Siwabessy J, Gavrilov A, Parsons M, 2009. A comparison of single beam and multibeam sonar systems in seafloor habitat mapping, p. 155-162. In: Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. and Exhibition of Underwater Acoustic Measurements: Technologies & Results, Nafplion, Greece.

Poulain T, Argillier C, Gevrey M, Guillard J, 2011. Identifying lakebed nature: is it feasible with a combination of echosounder and Sonar5-pro? Adv. Oceanogr. Limnol. 2:49-53.

Preston JM, 2009. Automated acoustic seabed classification of multibeam images of Stanton Banks. App. Acoust. 70:1277-1287.

Republic of Brazil Canambra Engineering Consultant, United Nations Development Programme,1969. Power study of South Brazil.

Sobek S, DelSontro T, Wongfun N, Wehrli B, 2012. Extreme organic carbon burial fuels intense methane bubbling in a temperate reservoir. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39:L01401.

Tęgowski J, 2005. Acoustical classification of the bottom sediments in the southern Baltic Sea. Quatern. Int.130:153-161.

US Environmental Protection Agency, 2001. Measurement and monitoring technologies for the 21st century. Available from: https://clu-in.org/programs/21m2/

van Walree PA, Tęgowski J, Laban C, Simons DG, 2005. Acoustic seafloor discrimination with echo shape parameters: A comparison with the ground truth. Cont. Shelf Res. 25:2273-2293.

WCD (World Commission on Dams), 2000. Dams and development: a new framework for decision-making. Earthscan Publications, London.

Hilgert, S., Wagner, A., Kiemle, L., & Fuchs, S. (2016). Investigation of echo sounding parameters for the characterisation of bottom sediments in a sub-tropical reservoir. Advances in Oceanography and Limnology, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/aiol.2016.5623

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations