OSW Hydroacoustics Home Page
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been collecting streamflow information for the Nation's streams since 1889. The USGS has been involved in developing and using acoustic flow measurement technology since the late 1960s to improve the accuracy of an efficiency of streamflow measurements. Since the early 1980s the USGS has worked cooperatively with manufactures to develop and enhance the use of acoustic Doppler instruments. ADCP performance and operational characteristics are changing frequently as hardware and software continue to improve. Frequent revisions of software, firmware, and documentation revisions are expected in the foreseeable future. The purpose of this website, supported by the Office of Surface Water, is to provide relevant information to hydroacoustic technology users in the USGS; however, most of the information provided herein is available to all users of hydroacoustic technology.
Register for Hydroacoustic Webinars
The Office of Surface Water hosts webinars on various hydroacoustics topics. The proposed topics for upcoming webinars can be viewed at the new OSW Hydroacoustics Webinar page. As it is possible that the topic for a given month may change in response to scheduling conflicts or other problems, it is important to periodically check the above Web pages for any updates. We will make an effort to offer two different sessions for each Webinar and post a recording of one of the sessions on the OSW Hydroacoustics Webinar page. In addition, the OSW will send out an announcement for each Webinar with the dates and times and along with instructions for participating in the Webinar.
What's New?
USGS Fact Sheet
The Office of Surface Water has published a new fact sheet titled, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler Applications Used in Rivers and Estuaries by the U.S. Geological Survey. This fact sheet provides a overview of how ADCPs are being used in the USGS and how the technology can be applied to address various science problems.
USGS Techniques and Methods Report
The Office of Surface Water has just released a new Techniques and Methods report (previously these were referred to as Techniques of Water-Resources Investigation, TWRI), Measuring Discharge with Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers from a Moving Boat, that provides the latest guidance and information on the use of ADCP's for measuring discharge. This report consolidates OSW Technical Memorandums and information taught in OSW ADCP training classes into a single resource.
WinRiver II Version 2.04 Available
Version 2.03 contained an undocumented change that filtered depths in ensembles without valid bottom track. This change could affect computed discharge when using GPS as reference. The change did not affect discharge for bottom-track referenced moving-boat measurements. The only difference between version 2.04 and 2.03 is making this change into a configuration option that defaults to disabled. OSW recommends that all USGS users upgrade to version 2.04 and reprocess any GPS referenced measurements previously processed with version 2.03. WinRiver II 2.03 contained numerous fixes to version 2.02, 2.01 and 2.00 (recommended in OSW Technical Memorandum 2008.01). A recorded webinar discussing the many changes in version 2.03 is available on the Webinars page. WinRiver II version 2.04 is available from the Moving-Boat Deployments Software web page for those that have an agreement that allows the USGS to distribute the software to their agency. Others may download it from the TRDI website.
DatView Version 1.02 Available
DatView version 1.02 is now available from the Mid-Section Measurements Software web page. This version adds quality screening on temperature.
Featured Topic: Hydroacoustics Community Forum Highlights
Below are direct links to select topics from the Hydroacoustics Community Forum.
Collecting StreamPro data with WinRiver II using Bluetooth adapters
Improving StreamPro control during measurements
Reasonable WinRiver thresholds for a StreamPro
Getting email notifications of all new forum topics
NOTE: You must me a registered member to view the posts. Register now and join the discussion. Detailed instructions on registering can be found at http://hydroacoustics.usgs.gov/software/Forum_Reg1.html.
