Author(s): David J. Milan; George L. Heritage; Neil S. Entwistle
Linked Author(s): George Heritage
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: This paper investigates the use of terrestrial laser scanning to determine grain roughness and morphological change of a gravel point bar on the River Rede, Northumberland, UK. Grain roughness was established through assigning σz of elevations in a small moving window across the data cloud, to a regular grid. These grids are then interpolated to produce grain roughness maps. Through differencing successive grain roughness grids, changes in grain roughness in response to three geomorphically effective flows between May 2008 and March 2009, were identified. Evolution in grain roughness, structure and sorting are linked both to the morphological response shown over the study period and to established models of sediment sorting. As such this study presents a new paradigm in temporal a spatial characterization of river channel roughness, which is likely to have future implications for the parameterization of hydraulic models and in sediment quality assessment for fish and macroinvertebrates.
Year: 2009