Effects Of Discharge And Morphology On Fluvial Sound
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EA004327 <-- shared paper
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H/T @Scott Gauvain | Senior Machine Learning Engineer | Geospatial & Environmental Intelligence
“This study explores how sound from turbulent river flow changes with discharge and channel morphology, and how acoustics could support low cost, non-invasive stream gauging in under-monitored watersheds. Using both field observations and controlled experiments, [they] found that stream sound responds not only to discharge, but also to features such as pool and waterfall geometry.
[The authors are] very grateful to lead work that connects hydrology, geomorphology, and environmental acoustics toward improving freshwater monitoring. This research shapes [their] current work developing a deep learning approach for discharge prediction in ungauged basins….”
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“ABSTRACT: Toward developing acoustic monitoring for stream gauging applications, [the author] show[s] the dependence of stream sounds on discharge and morphology in field and lab studies. Currently, there is need for innovative, non-invasive, and low-cost methods of surface freshwater discharge monitoring, and recording aerial fluvial sounds could be used inexpensively to infer discharge changes. An important knowledge gap preventing acoustic gauging use is how stream sounds depends on discharge and stream morphology. To address this, [they] record[ed] and characterize[d] sound produced by 8 morphologically diverse fluvial features across multi-year spans and 2 physical models with controlled discharge and morphology. At field sites, using sound to infer discharge is most reliable at step features with low width/depth (W/D) ratios, and at high W/D step features with channels that show little to no spatiotemporal changes in channel morphology, but is less reliable at riffle features and step features with temporally variable channel morphologies. At several field sites and a discharge variable, constant morphology plunge-pool, acoustic power increases with flow until a discharge threshold, where it either remains constant or decreases with rising discharge. In a constant discharge plunge-pool with variable morphology, rising downstream depth strongly influenced both acoustic power and mean frequency. A plunging jet’s initial drop height and the width of its receiving pool clearly influenced acoustics, while the width of a jet may also affect acoustics. With more studies in morphologically diverse channels such as bedrock and cascade, acoustics may be used as a non-invasive, inexpensive, and accurate hydrometric tool to help fill global spatiotemporal discharge monitoring gaps.
PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: This study investigates the use of sound to measure stream discharge (volume of water per second) in several real-world and controlled scenarios. [They] measure[d] sound at eight locations across two rivers in Southwest Idaho, and at two adjustable waterfalls [and] adjust[ed] the discharge at one waterfall with an unchanging channel shape, and we adjust the shape of the waterfall and its receiving pool at another. [They] found that sound power (loudness) and frequency (pitch) change with changing discharge, waterfall height, pool depth, and pool width. The evolution of a stream’s channel may change sound through changing the speed and energy of water flowing within a channel. When discharge increases at a waterfall the downstream pool’s depth may also increase, muffling sound. Future studies should measure how spatial and temporal changes in stream channel shape affect sound in many rivers of various size and shape…”
#water #hydrology #stream #river #flowline #flow #gage #gauge #FluvialAcoustics #AcousticGauging #Hydroacoustics #StreamGauging #Hydrometrics #DischargeEstimation #RiverMorphology #ChannelMorphodynamics #Monitoring #NonInvasiveSensing #AcousticSensing #LowCostMonitoring #Geomorphology #FreshwaterScience #WatershedScience #Idaho #BoiseRiver #discharge #hydrodynamics #spatial #temporal