National Research Program | Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory

Field Applications

GSTL has the expertise and equipment to carry out field studies in rivers and streams. Most of our field work is tied to laboratory and computational research, typically to collect basic data such as bathymetry for the application of numerical flow, sediment transport, bed evolution and/or habitat models or to collect data for model testing and verification.

The following equipment is used for GSTL field investigations in rivers:

  • GNSS survey-grade GPS system for ground surveying and boat positioning
  • Single beam digital echo sounders
  • Multibeam echo sounder
  • Interferometric echo sounder
  • Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)
  • 2 Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters (ADV)
  • Various mechanical and electromagnetic current meters (Price, Ott, Marsh-McBirney, Smith-Olund)
  • Pressure transducers for water-surface elevation measurements
  • Bed sediment sampling equipment
  • Bedload sampling equipment
  • Suspended sediment sampling equipment
  • Boats

Current Field Projects

Read about some of our projects with local, state, and federal government and university partnerships.

GPS Base Station setup above the Green River, UT
GPS Base Station setup above the Green River, Utah.

Surveying the Rio Grande River at Embudo, New Mexico.
Surveying the Rio Grande River at Embudo, New Mexico.

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