Sedcam: Continued Development of A Non-Contact Sediment Surrogate Technique Based On Multispectral Imagery

The adaptation of suspended-sediment surrogate technologies continues to rapidly expand across fluvial sediment and geomorphology monitoring efforts. Over a decade of research and development shows increased reliability and accuracy with reduced program cost as compared to traditional sample-based methods.

Originally presented at SEDHYD 2015 Conference, the ‘SedCam’ technique used close-range multispectral imagery (400–700 nm) to estimate suspended-sediment concentration and particle size distribution in a small, and highly turbid, river system. That six-month feasibility study was expanded with additional spectra (340–1,100 nm by way of two cameras instead of one) at a larger river with lower turbidity. More than 90,000 images and 74 depth-integrated suspended-sediment samples were acquired during this 20-month deployment. Optimal camera settings, white balance normalization, power supplies, installation, sample depth, image processing, analyses, and other factors were examined. Lessons learned from these two studies are currently being used at four additional locations.