On the Capabilities of Emerging Nonintrusive Methods to Estimate Bedform Characteristics and Bedload Rates

A new measurement protocol, labeled Acoustic Mapping Velocimetry (AMV), has been successfully tested for in-situ estimation of bedload transport features in sandy beds. The AMV has proven efficient in using the dune-tracking method (DTM) for characterizing the bedform geometry and dynamics as well as for estimation of the rates of bedload transport. Given the novelty of the AMV protocol and its extensive reliance on multiple site-specific assumptions and user-defined parameters, a comparison of this emerging technique with other three non-intrusive DTM-based methods and analytical predictors is attempted in this paper. The comparison highlights that the AMV estimates are within 22% of the estimates with the other non-intrusive protocols and up to 98% different from analytical predictions. The observed differences are related to the possible sources of uncertainty in the AMV workflows and to the means to reduce their impact on the targeted estimations.

Automated summary

A new measurement protocol called Acoustic Mapping Velocimetry (AMV) has been successfully tested for estimating bedload transport features in sandy beds. The AMV utilizes the dune-tracking method (DTM) to characterize bedform geometry, dynamics, and estimate bedload transport rates. This paper compares the AMV technique with three other non-intrusive DTM-based methods and analytical predictors, and finds that the AMV estimates are within 22% of the estimates from other protocols and differ up to 98% from analytical predictions. These differences are attributed to uncertainties in the AMV workflows and methods to reduce their impact.