High-Resolution Measurement of Sediment Concentration in Convectively Unstable Sediment Clouds

Abstract

Long Term Goals. To understand the mechanics of small-scale sediment-fluid interactions and develop state-of-the-art technology to observe these processes in the field. Convective sedimentation \201CS\202 and preferential concentration \201PC\202 represent two newly formulated processes that have the potential to change the way the way we think about delivery of riverine material to the continental shelf and beyond. Despite substantial indirect evidence, neither CS nor PC has not been observed directly in the field; most likely a result of existing instrument limitations. OBJECTIVES. To measure the constituents (sediment concentration and salinity) in a turbulent water column of settling fine sediment. To examine the effects that natural fine sediment (as opposed to manufactured materials) play on the dynamics of particle-fluid and particle-particle interactions. To utilize new tools for the measurement and identification of water-column variability. These instruments will be tested and calibrated such that they will ultimately be used for field measurement.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 2002
Accession Number
ADA628554

Entities

People

  • Jeff Parsons

Organizations

  • University of Washington

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundary Layer
  • Continental Shelves
  • Gravity Waves
  • High Resolution
  • Information Operations
  • Instrumentation
  • Landforms
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Mechanics
  • Models
  • New Guinea
  • Physics
  • Remote Sensing
  • Scale Models
  • Sedimentation
  • Sediments

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Coastal Oceanography
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)