Suspended sediment program at Austrian rivers

Research institute: BOKU Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and River Research

In Austria, a combination of direct and indirect measurement methods is used to determine the temporal and spatial variability of suspended sediments in rivers and streams. In addition to the continuous detection of turbidity by optical probes and calibration by means of probe-near samples, it is also necessary to determine the distribution of suspended sediments in the cross-sections of the rivers at the monitoring sites by using ADCP measurements and/or multi-point sampling. These methods are combined with corresponding analytical approaches, enabling the continuous determination of the suspended sediment concentration and the suspended sediment transport, as well as the calculation of suspended sediment loads. These data are necessary to answer many of the questions that arise in the fields of water management, energy management and ecology and are also needed for numerical simulations.

In addition to regular data collection, there is a constant need for research on how to improve the measurements in routine operation. This will be done on the one hand by the optimization of workflows in the field and on the other hand by the testing of newly developed measuring devices. The testing of the devices for their suitability to monitor suspended sediments in river and streams will be performed under defined conditions in the research channel.