National Coordination and Support for Hydroacoustic Activities
In Reply Refer To: December 7, 2001
Mail Stop 415
OFFICE OF SURFACE WATER MEMORANDUM
From: J. Michael Norris /signed/
Acting Chief, Office of Surface Water
SUBJECT: National Coordination and Support for Hydroacoustic Activities
The purpose of this memorandum is to describe the mission and activities
of the Hydroacoustics Work Group (HAWG) and to encourage communication
with the HAWG regarding the application of acoustics to hydrologic
measurements such as streamflow, velocity profiles, etc. Since 1995, the
role of the HAWG has expanded to include support and guidance to users of
all acoustic instruments used for velocity and discharge measurements
within the USGS. The coordination and support for hydroacoustic
activities through HAWG is part of OSW's ongoing support of new
technologies for Water Discipline programs.
Office of Surface Water (OSW) Technical Memorandum 97.02 describes
national coordination and support activities for acoustic profilers and
makes reference to the Hydroacoustics Work Group (then known as the ADCP
Work Group). This memo provides updated information regarding the
membership, role, and activities of the HAWG.
Purpose and Composition of Work Group
The HAWG is sponsored by the OSW to assist in providing operational
guidance to users of acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP's) and other
acoustics devices used for hydrologic measurements. The term ADCP
generally is used to describe instruments produced by a number of
manufacturers with the common purpose of measuring 3-dimensional current
velocities using acoustic methods.
The chair of HAWG and national coordinator of hydroacoustic activities for
the OSW is Kevin Oberg. Kevin is OSW's primary contact for technical
support, training, and quality assurance of hydroacoustics. In addition
to chairing HAWG, he currently serves as the OSW representative on the
USGS Instrumentation Committee (ICOM) and is a member of the ASCE
Technical Committee on Hydraulic Measurements and Experimentation. HAWG
members have a wide range of experience covering many aspects of data
collection and analysis with acoustic instruments. The HAWG includes
members from Environment Canada and the South Florida Water Management
District (SFWMD). Current HAWG members are listed below.
Paul-Emile Bergeron Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ont. Paul-Emile.Bergeron@ec.gc.ca
Jeffrey Gartner NRP, Menlo Park, CA jgartner@usgs.gov
John Goodson SFWMD, West Palm Beach, FL john.goodson@sfwmd.gov
Victor Levesque Florida District, Tampa, FL levesque@usgs.gov
Brian Loving Kansas, District, Lawrence, KS bloving@usgs.gov
Scott Morlock Indiana District, Indianapolis, IN smorlock@usgs.gov
David Mueller Kentucky District, Louisville, KY dmueller@usgs.gov
Kevin Oberg OSW, Urbana, IL kaoberg@usgs.gov
Mike Simpson California District, Sacramento, CA msimpson@usgs.gov
Kirk Thibodeaux OSW South, Bay St. Louis, MS kgthibod@usgs.gov
Phil Zrymiak Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ont. Phil.Zrymiak@ec.gc.ca
Work Group Activities
Kevin Oberg currently maintains Web pages for support of hydroacoustic
applications (http://hydroacoustics.usgs.gov/). These pages, created with
the assistance of the HAWG, include extensive information on application
of hydroacoustic techniques with emphasis on discharge measurements. The
Web pages include: descriptions of specialized field applications; lists
of contacts, references, and vendors; class outlines and schedules;
photographs of ADCP boats and mounts; OSW Technical Memoranda; and the
ADCP quality-assurance plan. A mailing list also has been created for
exchanging information on hydroacoustics. Personnel can subscribe to the
mailing list by sending email to completing the form at the following url:
http://hydroacoustics.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/lwgate/acoustics@simon.er.usgs.gov/subscribe.html.
Once subscribed, email can be sent to all members on the list by
addressing email to acoustics@simon.er.usgs.gov. For more information on
the mailing list and help regarding ADCP's and hydroacoustics, and an HTML
archive of the mailing list, refer to
http://hydroacoustics.usgs.gov/help.html.
HAWG members also are responsible for the completion of various high
priority ICOM hydroacoustic projects. These include the Tethered and
Remote Boat project (David Mueller and Mike Rehmel, Indiana District), the
Hydroacoustic Wading Discharge Measurements project (Scott Morlock), and
the Next Generation ADCP project (Kevin Oberg). For more information on
these projects, please view the OSW ADCP Support pages (
http://hydroacoustics.usgs.gov/help.html).
The HAWG has produced reports and documents including a quality-assurance
plan and an operational manual for one of the widely used acoustic
instruments. The quality-assurance plan has been published as Open-File
Report 95-701, "Quality Assurance Plan for Discharge Measurements Using
Broadband Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers," by Stephen W. Lipscomb. The
quality-assurance plan is presently under revision and a new report is
planned to be distributed early in Fiscal Year 2003. The operational
manual will be made available shortly as a pdf document. Other reports
are listed on the OSW ADCP Support pages (http://hydroacoustics.usgs.gov/help.html).
The HAWG conducts ongoing basic and advanced training classes and an
internationally attended Hydroacoustics Workshop, which has been held
every other year. For more information on training classes and the
Hydroacoustics Workshop see http://hydroacoustics.usgs.gov/training/.
Other HAWG activities include: assisting with development of new acoustic
applications and projects; development of testing and quality assurance
procedures; test and evaluation of software; and representing the USGS in
meetings with other agencies and companies.
If you would like to contact the HAWG, please send email to
adcpcom@simon.er.usgs.gov, or contact Kevin Oberg (217-344-0037 ext. 3004).
WRD Distribution: A, B, FO, PO
or as an attachment
J. Michael Norris
Acting Chief, Office of Surface Water
mnorris@usgs.gov
(703) 648-530