Velocity Mapping Toolbox (VMT): a processing and visualization suite for moving‐vessel ADCP measurements

TLDR

Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) are increasingly used for discharge measurements and 3‑D flow mapping, driven by advances in acoustic technology and signal processing. This paper introduces new software for processing and visualizing ADCP data collected along transects in rivers or other water bodies. The Velocity Mapping Toolbox (VMT) enables rapid processing—including vector rotation, projection, averaging and smoothing—visualization of planform and cross‑section vectors and contours, and analysis of ADCP‑derived datasets, and is documented with diverse examples. VMT is applicable to ADCP data from a wide range of aquatic environments and is released as open‑source code with demonstrated capabilities. Published 2012, this U.S.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use of acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) for discharge measurements and three‐dimensional flow mapping has increased rapidly in recent years and has been primarily driven by advances in acoustic technology and signal processing. Recent research has developed a variety of methods for processing data obtained from a range of ADCP deployments and this paper builds on this progress by describing new software for processing and visualizing ADCP data collected along transects in rivers or other bodies of water. The new utility, the Velocity Mapping Toolbox (VMT), allows rapid processing (vector rotation, projection, averaging and smoothing), visualization (planform and cross‐section vector and contouring), and analysis of a range of ADCP‐derived datasets. The paper documents the data processing routines in the toolbox and presents a set of diverse examples that demonstrate its capabilities. The toolbox is applicable to the analysis of ADCP data collected in a wide range of aquatic environments and is made available as open‐source code along with this publication. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.