Sediment transport observations in Swiss mountain streams

The Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL has extensive experience with surrogate bedload transport measurements. The first measuring site was established in the Erlenbach stream, a small (first-order) catchment in the pre-alpine valley Alptal in central Switzerland. Continuous bedload transport measurements were started in 1986, using first piezoelectric sensors (1986 to 1999) and then geophone sensors (from 2002 onwards) underneath a steel plate and mounted flush with the streambed. In the meantime, the so-called Swiss plate geophone (SPG) system has been installed at more than 20 field sites, primarily in smaller and steeper streams in Switzerland, Austria, and Italy but also in a few larger rivers and in some other streams worldwide (Israel, USA, Japan). Sediment transport observations in Switzerland with the SPG system concern the following streams: Erlenbach near Brunni (Alptal valley), Albula at Tiefencastel, Navisence at Zinal, Avançon de Nant near Pont de Nant (see map). The data in this repository primarily refer to calibration measurements with the SPG system. The publications listed here discuss primarily the performance of the measuring system but also process-based aspects of bedload transport.

• WSL, BAFU, SNSF, CREALP, UNIL, ETHZ, DFG

Antoniazza, G., Dietze, M., Mancini, D., Turowski, J.M., Rickenmann, D., Nicollier, T., Boss, S., Lane, S.N. (2023). Anatomy of an Alpine bedload transport event: A watershed-scale seismic-network perspective. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 128, e2022JF007000. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JF007000

Antoniazza, G., Nicollier, T., Boss, S., Mettra, F., Badoux, A., Schaefli, B., Rickenmann, D., Lane, S.N., 2022. Hydrological drivers of bedload transport in an Alpine watershed. Water Resources Research, 58, e2021WR030663. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR030663

Antoniazza, G., Nicollier, T., Wyss, C.R., Boss, S., Rickenmann, D., 2020. Bedload Transport Monitoring in Alpine Rivers: Variability in Swiss Plate Geophone Response. Sensors 2020, 20, 4089; doi:10.3390/s20154089.

Nicollier, T., Rickenmann, D., Hartlieb, A., 2021. Field and flume measurements with the impact plate: Effect of bedload grain-size distribution on signal response. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 2021; 46:1504–1520. http://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5117

Rickenmann, D., 2020. Effect of sediment supply on cyclic fluctuations of the disequilibrium ratio and threshold transport discharge, inferred from bedload transport measurements over 27 years at the Swiss Erlenbach stream. Water Resources Research, 56, e2020WR027741. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR027741

Rickenmann, D., 2017. Bed-load transport measurements with geophones and other passive acoustic methods. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 143(6), 03117004-1-14, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001300

Rickenmann, D., McArdell, B.W., 2007. Continuous measurement of sediment transport in the Erlenbach stream using piezoelectric bedload impact sensors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 32, 1362–1378.

Rickenmann, D., Fritschi, B., 2010. Bedload transport measurements using piezoelectric impact sensors and geophones. Rep. SIR 2010-5091, U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations, Reston, VA,407–423.

Rickenmann, D., Turowski, J.M., Fritschi, B., Klaiber, A., Ludwig, A., 2012. Bedload transport measurements at the Erlenbach stream with geophones and automated basket samplers. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 37, 1000-1011, doi: 10.1002/esp.3225

Rickenmann, D., J. M. Turowski, B. Fritschi, C. Wyss, J. B. Laronne, R. Barzilai, I. Reid, A. Kreisler, J. Aigner, H. Habersack, 2014. Bedloadtransport measurements with impact plate geophones: Comparison of sensor calibration at different gravel-bed streams. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 39, 928–942, doi:10.1002/esp.3499.

Rickenmann, D., Antoniazza, G., Wyss, C.R., Fritschi, B., Boss, S., 2017. Bedload transport moni-toring with acoustic sensors in the Swiss Albula mountain river. Proc. IAHS, 375, 5-10, doi:10.5194/piahs-375-5-2017.

Wyss, C. R., Rickenmann, D., Fritschi, B., Turowski, J. M., Weitbrecht, V., Boes, R. M., 2016. Measuring bedload transport rates by grainsize fraction using the Swiss plate geophone at the Erlenbach. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 142(5), 1–11, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001090

Wyss, C. R., Rickenmann, D., Fritschi, B., Turowski, J. M., Weitbrecht, V., Boes, R. M., 2016. Laboratory flume experiments with the Swiss plate geophone bedload monitoring system. Part I: Impulse counts and particle size identification. Water Resources Research, 52(10), 7744–7759.

Wyss, C. R., Rickenmann, D., Fritschi, B., Turowski, J. M., Weitbrecht, V., Travaglini, E., Bardou, E., Boes, R. M., 2016. Laboratory flume experiments with the Swiss plate geophone bedload monitoring system: 2. Application to field sites with direct bedload samples. Water Resources Research, 52, 7760–7778, doi:10.1002/2016WR019283