Hi, my name is Nick Stasulis and I am a hydrologic technician with the Maine Office of the New
England Water Science Center.
In this video, we will outline the process of setting up an under ice measurement in
the TRDI SxS Pro software.
Once you’re connected to your ADCP and ready to start the measurement, you can either select
the new measurement icon here, or select File, New Measurement.
A one page measurement wizard will appear, allowing you to specify the measurement information,
filenaming and ADCP configuration.
First, fill out the measurement and station information at the top of the page.
Notice some of this information will be used for the file name as a default, so while it’s
not required, it will help populate other information in this dialog.
Next, look over the file naming prefix and ensure it’s consistent with your office’s
file naming structure.
You can also select the folder to save the measurement files here.
Once you are satisfied with the file name and folder information, we can move onto configuring
the ADCP.
The first step in configuring the ADCP is to make sure you are connected to the ADCP
and the correct ADCP information is displayed.
The options shown in the setup area will vary based on the unit you are connected to, so
it’s important the software recognizes the ADCP you’re connected to so it can display
the proper dialogs.
The default duration of 40 seconds is appropriate, and is typically not changed.
ADCPs are usually deployed in one of two ways for ice measurements.
Some offices used a foot or bracket on their setup to clip to the ice and fix the ADCP
depth for each station.
In this case, the ADCP depth is known and can be entered here.
Some offices reference ice and water depth information to the water surface, and hold
the rod in place during data collection, so the ADCP depth can vary depending on where
the rod is held.
In this case, the ADCP depth could be left blank here.
In either case, the ADCP depth information can be entered or adjusted before collecting
data at each station.
The discharge method should always set to mid-section, the computation method used by
the USGS.
For ice measurements, the velocity method is preferably set to y-velocity.
In this method, the ADCP is held fixed during data collection with beam 3 downstream and
perpendicular to the tagline.
This allows the software to compute flow angles automatically.
If you select magnitude here, or don’t hold the ADCP at a fixed orientation, angle correction
is not an option.
More information on accounting for angles is presented in another video.
For a Rio Grande, fill out the maximum water depth and water speed, as well as the streambed
type.
The secondary depth is typically not used as you have the ability to stop pinging during
data collection, allowing you to re-enter this dialog and edit water depth and speed
for each station, if needed.
The ability to change configurations in the middle of a measurement is a good option for
the Rio Grande and the StreamPro, which both have a fixed configuration once the ADCP is
initiated.
The bottom mode is typically left to Auto, while the water mode must be selected manually.
For more information on these modes and the modes available for other ADCPs we will discuss,
review USGS T&M 3-A22, appendix C. To preview the commands based on your selections, you
can click the commands button here.
For a StreamPro, again fill out maximum water speed and depth, as well as select the water
mode.
Water mode 13 is limited to about 3 ft of depth and less than 1 ft/s, otherwise you
will use water mode 12.
Ensure the Use compass check box is not selected for an ice measurement.
With this deployment the transducer and electronics are not aligned and typically the electronics,
which has the compass and pitch and roll sensors, is stored in a backpack, cooler or other way
that would lead to erroneous readings.
Also, ensure long range is selected if available, and use the default number of cells and the
default cell size.
The RiverRay, RiverPro and RioPro settings are similar to a Rio Grande, except that no
bottom mode or water mode selections are needed, as both are left to Auto.
The depth and water speed information should be populated with a reasonable estimate and
the streambed information should also be filled out.
After filling out the ADCP setup information, ensure you’ve addressed any warnings here,
and click ok.
Pre-measurement tests are covered in a separate video.