Acoustic observations of near‐bed sediment concentration and flux statistics above migrating sand dunes

Abstract A coherent Doppler profiler was used to measure coincident time series of velocity (u,w), sediment mass concentration (c), and sediment grain size (d), above mobile sand dunes in unidirectional flow (∼1 m/s, ∼1 m water depth). The measurements are used to extract statistical distributions o...

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Main Authors: G. W. Wilson, A. E. Hay
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2016-06-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069579
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author G. W. Wilson
A. E. Hay
author_facet G. W. Wilson
A. E. Hay
author_sort G. W. Wilson
collection DOAJ
description Abstract A coherent Doppler profiler was used to measure coincident time series of velocity (u,w), sediment mass concentration (c), and sediment grain size (d), above mobile sand dunes in unidirectional flow (∼1 m/s, ∼1 m water depth). The measurements are used to extract statistical distributions of sediment concentration and flux just above the bed. Observed mass fluxes (uc,wc) were well fit by quasi‐exponential distributions, at all positions along the dune profile, similar to previous observations of single‐particle momenta for bed load over flat beds. Observed concentrations of moving particles were well fit by negative‐binomial distributions, also similar to previous observations over flat beds. These probability distributions relate to two recent stochastic theories, previously derived and verified for uniform flow over flat beds. It is hypothesized that these theories may also be used as a local approximation in natural‐scale flows with bed forms.
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spelling doaj-art-22f0b0e01fac4470b8f705cbc182f4cd2025-08-20T01:50:59ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072016-06-0143126304631210.1002/2016GL069579Acoustic observations of near‐bed sediment concentration and flux statistics above migrating sand dunesG. W. Wilson0A. E. Hay1Department of Oceanography Dalhousie University Halifax Nova Scotia CanadaDepartment of Oceanography Dalhousie University Halifax Nova Scotia CanadaAbstract A coherent Doppler profiler was used to measure coincident time series of velocity (u,w), sediment mass concentration (c), and sediment grain size (d), above mobile sand dunes in unidirectional flow (∼1 m/s, ∼1 m water depth). The measurements are used to extract statistical distributions of sediment concentration and flux just above the bed. Observed mass fluxes (uc,wc) were well fit by quasi‐exponential distributions, at all positions along the dune profile, similar to previous observations of single‐particle momenta for bed load over flat beds. Observed concentrations of moving particles were well fit by negative‐binomial distributions, also similar to previous observations over flat beds. These probability distributions relate to two recent stochastic theories, previously derived and verified for uniform flow over flat beds. It is hypothesized that these theories may also be used as a local approximation in natural‐scale flows with bed forms.https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069579sediment transportacousticsboundary layergranular gases
spellingShingle G. W. Wilson
A. E. Hay
Acoustic observations of near‐bed sediment concentration and flux statistics above migrating sand dunes
Geophysical Research Letters
sediment transport
acoustics
boundary layer
granular gases
title Acoustic observations of near‐bed sediment concentration and flux statistics above migrating sand dunes
title_full Acoustic observations of near‐bed sediment concentration and flux statistics above migrating sand dunes
title_fullStr Acoustic observations of near‐bed sediment concentration and flux statistics above migrating sand dunes
title_full_unstemmed Acoustic observations of near‐bed sediment concentration and flux statistics above migrating sand dunes
title_short Acoustic observations of near‐bed sediment concentration and flux statistics above migrating sand dunes
title_sort acoustic observations of near bed sediment concentration and flux statistics above migrating sand dunes
topic sediment transport
acoustics
boundary layer
granular gases
url https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069579
work_keys_str_mv AT gwwilson acousticobservationsofnearbedsedimentconcentrationandfluxstatisticsabovemigratingsanddunes
AT aehay acousticobservationsofnearbedsedimentconcentrationandfluxstatisticsabovemigratingsanddunes