Quantifying streambed deposition and scour from stream and hyporheic water temperature time series

Abstract

[1] We propose a new method based on temperature time series of surface and streambed pore waters to monitor local changes in streambed surface elevations at a nominally daily time scale. The proposed method uses the naturally occurring daily temperature signal changes in amplitude and phase between stream water and the water flowing within the streambed sediment. Application of the method in a fine-bedded stream predicts the timing and magnitude of a prescribed sequence of scour and deposition. This provides a new, effective, easy to use, and economic methodology to monitor the temporal evolution of erosion and depositional patterns in rivers.