Evaluation of a simple, inexpensive, in situ sampler for measuring time‐weighted average concentrations of suspended sediment in rivers and streams

Doriean, Nicholas; Teasdale, Peter R.; Welsh, David T.; Brooks, Andrew Pattrick; Bennett, William W.

doi:10.1002/hyp.13353

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…It would be interesting to investigate if studies would then be able to confirm our results and, specifically, provide information on the efficiency of the Phillips sampler at higher discharges, which is still not clear from our study. Furthermore, future research should not be limited to the Phillips sampler alone; other passive samplers such as the pumped active suspended sediment (PASS) sampler designed by Doriean et al (2019) and the bidirectional time-integrated mass-flux sampler (TIMS) developed by Elliott et al (2017) should also be able to collect representative diatom communities. The operating principle of both of these samplers is the same as that of the Phillips sampler with the difference being that the PASS works at a constant, predefined flow rate, enabling the measurements of time-weighted average SSC and PSD, whereas the bidirectional TIMS was developed for estuaries and has an L-shaped outlet preventing inflow from the other direction.…”

Section: Potential Way Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technical note: A time-integrated sediment trap to sample diatoms for hydrological tracing

Foets

Wetzel

Martínez‐Carreras³

et al. 2020

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Diatoms, microscopic single-celled algae, are present in almost all habitats containing water (e.g. streams, lakes, soil and rocks). In the terrestrial environment, their diversified species distributions are mainly controlled by physiographical factors and anthropic disturbances which makes them useful tracers in catchment hydrology. In their use as a tracer, diatoms are generally sampled in streams by means of an automated sampling method; as a result, many samples must be collected to cover a whole storm run-off event. As diatom analysis is labour-intensive, a trade-off has to be made between the number of sites and the number of samples per site. In an attempt to reduce this sampling effort, we explored the potential for the Phillips sampler, a time-integrated mass-flux sampler, to provide a representative sample of the diatom assemblage of a whole storm run-off event. We addressed this by comparing the diatom community composition of the Phillips sampler to the composite community collected by automatic samplers for three events. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) showed that, based on the species composition, (1) all three events could be separated from each other, (2) the Phillips sampler was able to sample representative communities for two events and (3) significantly different communities were only collected for the third event. These observations were generally confirmed by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM), permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA), and the comparison of species relative abundances and community-derived indices. However, sediment data from the third event, which was sampled with automatic samplers, showed a large amount of noise; therefore, we could not verify if the Phillips sampler sampled representative communities or not. Nevertheless, we believe that this sampler could not only be applied in hydrological tracing using terrestrial diatoms, but it might also be a useful tool in water quality assessment.

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Section: Potential Way Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technical note: A time-integrated sediment trap to sample diatoms for hydrological tracing

Foets

Wetzel

Martínez‐Carreras³

et al. 2020

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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show abstract

“…Furthermore, future research should not only be limited to the Phillips sampler. Also, other passive samplers such as the pumped active suspended sediment (PASS) sampler designed by Doriean et al (2019) and the bidirectional time-integrated mass-flux sampler (TIMS) developed by Elliott et al (2017) should be able to collect a representative diatom community. The operating principle of both samplers is the same as the Phillips sampler with the difference that the PASS works at a constant, pre-defined flow rate enabling the measurements of time-weighted average SSC and PSD, while the Bidirectional TIMS is developed for estuaries and has a L-shaped outlet preventing inflow from the other direction.…”

Section: Potential Way Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technical note: A time-integrated sediment trap to sample diatoms for hydrological tracing

Foets¹,

Wetzel²,

Martínez‐Carreras³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Diatoms, microscopic, single-celled algae, are present in almost all habitats containing water (e.g. streams, lakes, soil, rocks) and form one of the most common and diverse algal groups in both freshwaters and marine ecosystems. In the terrestrial environment, their diversified species distributions are mainly controlled by physiographical factors and anthropic disturbances. This makes them useful tracers in catchment hydrology. In their use as a hydrological tracer, diatoms are generally sampled in streams by means of an automated sampling method and as a result many samples are collected to cover a whole storm run-off event. As diatom analysis is labour intensive, a trade-off has to be made between the number of sites and the amount of samples per site. A potential way to reduce this number is by using a time-integrated mass-flux sampler. Here, we explored the potential for the Phillips sampler to provide a representative sample of the diatom assemblage of a whole storm run-off event. We addressed this by comparing the diatom community composition of the Phillips sampler to the composite community collected by the automatic samplers for three events. Our results indicate that during two events the Phillips sampler sampled representative samples, whereas significantly different communities were collected during the third event. However, sediment data of this event, which was sampled with automatic samplers, showed much noise meaning that we could not verify if the Phillips sampler sampled representative communities or not. Nevertheless, we believe that this sampler could not only be applied in hydrological tracing using terrestrial diatoms, but may also be a useful tool in water quality assessment.

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“…The PASS sampler was originally designed for use in perennial waterways (e.g., small permanently flowing streams and rivers) (Figure 1) (Doriean et al, 2019). However, we propose that reconfiguration of the sampler to operate in ephemerally flowing systems (e.g., gullies) will provide an affordable alternative or complimentary monitoring method to those currently used for the measurement of suspended sediment concentration and particle size in ephemerally flowing systems, such as gullies.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The time-weighted average (non-continuous) suspended sediment concentration was determined by averaging the concentration of multiple discrete samples, weighted by the time span between two sequential samples. The PASS sampler continuously samples whilst in operation, thus, the time-weighted average suspended sediment concentration is calculated by weighting the total mass of suspended sediment collected by time as a function of volume (Doriean et al, 2019). Turbidity measurements were calibrated using the discrete samples from the autosampler.…”

Section: Sample Analysis and Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many of these methods, however, are too expensive to implement over the large spatial network of actively eroding gullies within a catchment (e.g., autosamplers and turbidity loggers), and others provide incomplete information when deployed in isolation (e.g., RS samplers and time-lapse cameras). To address this gap, our study includes the recently developed Pumped Active Suspended Sediment (PASS) sampler; an automated, time-integrated, and in situ sampling device, as a low-cost approach that could be used to monitor gully erosion over large spatial scales (Doriean et al, 2019;Nunny 1985;Phillips et al, 2000). As this work is primarily focussed on approaches that measure water quality associated with suspended sediment (i.e., suspended sediment concentration and particle size distribution) remote sensing techniques (i.e., LiDAR) that are used to estimate soil loss using landscape scale volumetric analysis will not be included in this evaluation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Suspended sediment monitoring in alluvial gullies: a laboratory and field evaluation of available measurement techniques

et al.

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Gully erosion is a significant source of fine suspended sediment (<63μm) and associated nutrient pollution to freshwater and marine waterways. Researchers, government agencies, and monitoring groups are currently using monitoring methods designed for streams and rivers (e.g., autosamplers, rising stage samplers, and turbidity loggers) to evaluate suspended sediment in gullies. This is potentially problematic because gullies have unique hydrological and operational challenges that differ to those of streams and rivers. Here we present a laboratory and field-based assessment of the performance of common suspended sediment monitoring techniques applied to gullies. We also evaluate a recently-described method; the pumped active suspended sediment (PASS) sampler, which has been modified for monitoring suspended sediment in gully systems. Discrete autosampling provided data at high temporal resolution, but had considerable uncertainty associated with the poor collection efficiency (25 ± 10%) of heavier sediment particles (i.e., sand). Rising stage sampling, while robust and cost-effective, suffered from large amounts of condensation under field conditions (25-35% of sampler volume), thereby diluting sample concentrations and introducing additional measurement uncertainty. The turbidity logger exhibited low uncertainty (< 10%) when calibrated with suspended sediment concentration data from physically collected samples, however, this calibration approach needs to be performed on a site-specific basis to overcome the error associated with the impact of different particle size distributions on the turbidity measurement. The modified PASS sampler proved to be a reliable and representative measurement method for gully sediment water quality, however, the time-integrated nature of the method limits its temporal resolution compared to the other monitoring methods. We recommend monitoring suspended sediment in alluvial gully systems using a combination of complementary techniques (e.g., PASS and RS samplers) to account for the limitations associated with individual methods.

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Evaluation of a simple, inexpensive, in situ sampler for measuring time‐weighted average concentrations of suspended sediment in rivers and streams

Cited by 16 publications

References 25 publications

Technical note: A time-integrated sediment trap to sample diatoms for hydrological tracing

Technical note: A time-integrated sediment trap to sample diatoms for hydrological tracing

Technical note: A time-integrated sediment trap to sample diatoms for hydrological tracing

Suspended sediment monitoring in alluvial gullies: a laboratory and field evaluation of available measurement techniques

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