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| Bedload surrogates monitoring workshop discusses new technologies | | The Bedload Research International Cooperative (BRIC), together with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the US Geological Survey, SAFL, and NCED, organized and convened the International Bedload Surrogates Monitoring (IBSM) Workshop at SAFL in early April 2007. This three-day workshop involved participation of nearly 45 international experts on issues of bedload monitoring and technology development. While further development is needed in most cases, the following technologies were identified as having potential for safe and continuous monitoring of bedload in rivers: discrete-impact sensing devices with passive acoustic sensors, hydroacoustic sensors, active acoustics devices, electromagnetic devices, and tracer methods. The IBSM Workshop, which was broadcast live over the Internet, involved presentations and discussions on all of these technologies. | |
| Using radio frequency identification to document gravel transport | | NCED PI Peter Wilcock, NCED Postdoctoral Research Associate Nancy Brown, NCED Stream Restoration Project Manager Jeff Marr, and Junior Scientist Craig Hill conducted a set of experiments in SAFL's Main Channel (flume) using radio frequency identification (RFID) gravels to document the motion of gravel particles in the runs. Two 1-hour runs were conducted in the flume, with degradation in the upstream flume and deposition in the downstream half of the flume. RFID rocks were placed at two lines in the upstream third of the flume during these runs. Similarly, a set of three, 1-hour runs were conducted in the flume in which sediment was eroded at the downstream half of the flume and deposited at the upstream half of the flume. Sixty percent of the rocks used in these five runs were recovered using a handheld wand that detects RFID. The results of these experiments showed that, despite electronic interference in the flume environment, handheld equipment can be used to locate transported gravel in an indoor flume. In addition, these flume experiments constitute a documented set of runs that can provide a standard of comparison for numerical models of aggradation and degradation. |  | | Left: The main channel at SAFL during an alternate bar run. Center: Each yellow gravel visible in the photo contains an RFID. Right: Connecting RFID antennas to the electronic control box. A tuning box is in the foreground. | | | | | Naked Science | | On April 19, the National Geographic Channel televised "Naked Science: Dino Meteor." NCED Director Chris Paola, NCED Postdoctoral Research Associate Doug Jerolmack, and Junior Scientist Craig Hill all participated in demonstrations that appeared in the documentary. Click here to watch excerpts from the program. | | Le Sueur River Project | | NCED PI Lesley Perg will be working with NCED PIs Peter Wilcock (JHU) and Gary Parker (UIUC), former NCED graduate student J. Wesley Lauer (PI for this project and assistant professor at Seattle University), Carrie E. Jennings (Minnesota Geological Survey), and Adjunct Assistant Professor Karen Gran (UMD) on a proposal entitled, "An Integrated Sediment Budget for the Le Sueur River Basin." This proposal is funded from March 2007 to June 2009 by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. | | |
