Sounding out the river: a new system for monitoring bedload mobilisation and transport

粗泥沙的调动和输送，即所谓的推移质，对山区河流的演变、它们所供应的周围盆地以及生活在其集水区内的社区有着深远的影响。然而，我们几乎没有有效的方法来近实时地常规监测推移质输运，因为它是一个高能和侵蚀的环境，在高峰水流条件下。因此，泥沙监测可以被认为是实时环境监测的缺失部分。在《探查河流》中，我们利用了低成本的地震传感器系统，这些系统是由于Raspberry Pi计算机等技术的兴起以及这些系统可以轻松遥测而变得可用的。我们将演示这个系统，用于监测苏格兰费希河沿岸泥沙的调动和运输，这是一系列科学项目已经监测到的集水区。为了确保该系统有用、可用和使用，我们将与包括环保署、CEH、实际行动尼泊尔公司和CBEC生态工程英国有限公司在内的一系列利益相关者共同制作该设计。在这项建议之后，我们将能够应对一系列环境挑战，例如：-在尼泊尔，向山前供应粗沙导致科西河连续发生河道撕裂事件。这造成易受伤害的人流离失所，农地上堆积的碎石摧毁了社区。通过对泥沙输运的近乎实时的监测，我们可以更好地了解这类系统的动态，并有可能开发早期预警。-当河流携带泥沙时，其侵蚀能力增加；当泥沙淤积时，河床变得坚固。这对管理关键基础设施提出了明显的挑战。-预测洪水危险需要了解河床的形状。然而，当洪水调动泥沙时，河床的形状会发生变化，这给洪水模拟带来了问题。我们的近乎实时的监测系统有可能告知我们预计洪水模型将在何时何地开始崩溃。-泥沙输送是一个重要的过程，它会在其他灾害之后级联，例如2015年尼泊尔地震引发的粗沙引发的山体滑坡的季风动员。通常情况下，这些次级过程(泥沙运输)没有得到与主要灾害(地震引起的滑坡)同样的关注，因为不确定性往往被描述为级联，这意味着不确定性越来越大。我们相信，通过有效利用本项目建议的监测，我们有机会限制不确定性并管理这一连锁危险。

The mobilisation and transport of coarse sediment, referred to as bedload, has a profound impact on the evolution of mountain rivers, the surrounding basins they feed, and the communities that live within their catchments. However, we have few effective methods to routinely monitor bedload transport in near real-time because it is such a high energy and erosive environment under peak flow conditions. Hence, bedload monitoring can be considered a missing component of real-time environmental monitoring.In 'Sounding Out the River' we take advantage of low cost seismic sensor systems that have become available because of the rise of technology such as the Raspberry Pi computer and the ease to which these systems can be telemetered. We will demonstrate this system for monitoring the mobilisation and transport of bedload along the River Feshie in Scotland, which is catchment already monitored for a range of scientific projects. In order to ensure that the system is useful, usable and used we will co-produce the design with a range of stakeholders including SEPA, CEH, Practical Action Nepal and cbec eco-engineering UK Ltd.Beyond this proposal, we will then be able to address a range of environmental challenges, for example: - In Nepal the supply of coarse bedload to the mountain front has resulted in successive channel avulsion events on the Kosi River. This has caused the displacement of vulnerable people and the deposition of gravels across agricultural land has devastated communities. Through near real-time monitoring of bedload transport, we can better understand the dynamics of such systems and have the potential to develop early warning.- When rivers carry bedload, their erosive capacity increases; and when the bedload is deposited the beds become armoured. This poses a clear challenge for managing critical infrastructure.- Forecasting of flood hazard requires knowledge of the shape of the river bed. However, when flood waters mobilise the bedload, the shape of the bed changes which poses a problem for flood modelling. Our near-real time monitoring system has the potential to inform where and when we would expect flood models to start breaking down.- Bedload transport is an important process that cascades in the wake of other hazards, such as the monsoonal mobilisation of coarse sediment derived landslides triggered by the 2015 Nepal earthquake. It is often the case that these secondary processes (bedload transport) do not receive the same attention as the primary hazard (earthquake induced landsliding) because the uncertainty is often described as cascading, implying growing uncertainty. We believe that through the effective use of the monitoring proposed in this project, we have an opportunity to constrain the uncertainty and manage this cascading hazard.