Mark Zucker¹, Jeff Woods¹, Christian Lopez¹, and Carrie L Boudreau¹

¹U.S. Geological Survey, Florida Integrated Science Center, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315; PH (954) 377-5952; email: mzucker@usgs.gov

Flow in Jewfish Creek near Key Largo has been monitored since 1998 to quantify the volumetric transport of surface water between Barnes Sound and Blackwater Sound. Jewfish Creek is approximately 250 ft wide, 1.0 mi in length, and 8-12 ft in depth. Flow through Jewfish Creek acts as an important flushing mechanism for northeastern Florida Bay. Recent algal blooms reported for this area coincide with an active 2005 hurricane season and road construction along Highway US-1. These recent events reinforce the need for real-time hydrologic and water-quality data.

Index velocity methods for tidal rivers are well established, but comparisons between various acoustic Doppler velocity meters (ADVM) that sample different volumes of the creek channel are lacking. The current index velocity ratings at Jewfish Creek utilize a 1.5 MHz Argonaut-SL with a 1.0-meter sampling cell. Concerns over the limited sampling range were evaluated using a 0.5-MHz Argonaut-SL "boomer" with a 35-meter sampling cell. Eighty discharge measurements were collected using an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) and used to correlate two ADVM velocities and measured mean channel velocity. The relations were used to compute two discharge time series to determine how changing the sampling range affects discharge determination. A statistical analysis was performed to determine if in the differences in sampling ranges resulted in significant differences in discharge determination.

Theme: Hydroacoustic Developments and Testing; Instrument Testing and Intercomparison.

(This abstract is from the 2007 Surface Water Conference and Hydroacoustics Workshop.)

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