Pacific Southwest

Title: Turbidity Threshold sampling in watershed research

Author: Eads, Rand; Lewis, Jack

Date: 2003

Source: In: Renard, Kenneth G.; McElroy, Stephen A.; Gburek, William J.; Canfield, H. Evan; Scott, Russell L., eds. First Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds, October 27-30, 2003. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service; 567-571.

Description: Abstract - When monitoring suspended sediment for watershed research, reliable and accurate results may be a higher priority than in other settings. Timing and frequency of data collection are the most important factors influencing the accuracy of suspended sediment load estimates, and, in most watersheds, suspended sediment transport is dominated by a few, large rainstorm events. Automated data collection is essential to effectively capture such infrequent events. Turbidity Threshold Sampling, a method that distributes sample collection over the range of rising and falling turbidity values during each significant turbidity peak, has been used since 1996 at the Caspar Creek Experimental Watershed in northern California.

Keywords: PSW4351, Caspar Creek, suspended sediment, turbidity, automatic sampling, water quality

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Citation

Eads, Rand; Lewis, Jack  2003.  Turbidity Threshold sampling in watershed research.   In: Renard, Kenneth G.; McElroy, Stephen A.; Gburek, William J.; Canfield, H. Evan; Scott, Russell L., eds. First Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds, October 27-30, 2003. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service; 567-571..