Short-term dynamics of river water turbidity

Abstract

An overview of the recently collected datasets of highly discrete water turbidity measurements has allowed for the first hydrological and geographical analysis of short-term fluctuations in water turbidity and the composition of suspended sediments. The novel methodology has been developed to estimate a value of TI, which is the ratio of the difference between the maximum and minimum turbidity for a short period of time (ΔTi) (1 hour with the measurement frequency of 20 minutes) and the total turbidity difference for the water regime phase under study (ΔT HE ). Higher TI values correspond to a greater contribution of diurnal (20-minute) turbidity fluctuations to the seasonal variability of sediment yield. Rivers have been grouped according to the value of water turbidity fluctuations within one hour (20-minute): glacier-fed rivers (the Tarfala, the Dzhankuat) (TI amounts to 0.17-0.22); volcanic rivers (0.22–0.25) and lowland rivers (the Selenga, the Western Dvina) (0.09)