Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) offer a well-proven and highly effective method for River Discharge Monitoring. ADCPs can help you to obtain accurate discharge measurements in a variety of sites ranging from small streams to the largest of rivers.
The interactive online course in May 2022 had 95% positive feedback.
Location:
Interactive online course
We may run a course with a field element in Wallingford in spring 2024.
Cost:
Student £449
Professional £499
Date:
31 October - 3 November (9:30 am - 1 pm)
Sign up online now! registration link (credit & debit cards accepted)
Please express your interest in the 2.5-day F2F course here so we can fix more venues and dates.
Short course description:
This very practical training workshop is for new starters and moderately experienced ADCP users alike.
You will have a live interactive learning experience. We will demonstrate several of the field techniques. These will show the deployment of equipment and the collection of river discharge measurements with ADCPs.
The course will introduce you to how ADCP instruments work. You will learn how to collect river discharge measurements with ADCPs from both Teledyne RD Instruments and Sontek. You will work with data we previously collected using remote-controlled boats and unpowered deployment platforms, with a strong focus on the processing and validation of the data. You will also learn how to troubleshoot problem data files. We encourage you to submit your data for analysis within the course.
You will also learn how ADCP data can help enable the effective use of other river flow measurement techniques, such as surface velocity methods.
Learning objectives:
By the end of the course, you will be able to…
- Understand the principles of ADCP technology
- Understand how to use ADCP instruments for river discharge measurements
- Choose the best instrument for a given site
- Decide how and where to make a discharge measurement with an ADCP
- Undertake river discharge measurements with an ADCP
- Review, process and validate ADCP river discharge measurements
- Interpret and analyse data from difficult sites and conditions
- Understand how information collected with ADCPs can help enable the use of other river measurement methods, such as surface velocity techniques
- Manage the practical aspects of launching an ADCP device and extracting its data
Target audience:
- Monitoring agencies such as the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and SEPA
- Rivers Trusts
- Consultancies engaged in river monitoring and assessment work
- Scientists and Hydrologists
- Academics, including PhD students
Level:
Beginner to Intermediate
Places:
Max 16 learners
Hardware and software requirements:
We will use three specialist software applications for reviewing and processing ADCP data:
- TRDI WinRiverII (registration for a free account required; )
- Sontek RiverSurveyorLive (You can install this software for free on your computer.)
- QRev (free download from USGS website)
We will give you guidance on how to download and install this software on your computer with the Joining Instructions.
Please note, the TRDI and Sontek software applications run on the Windows operating system only.
You will need a laptop, Windows tablet. If you use a tablet, a mouse and keyboard will make operating the ADCP software much easier.
Having a webcam is desirable (but not essential). If you plan to participate from an open-plan office or noisy environment, please wear headphones with a built-in microphone.
Course leader:
Nick Everard, Senior Hydrometric Scientist, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Nick has been an internationally renowned expert on ADCP technology for over 15 years. He has successfully delivered training courses on river monitoring with ADCPs for over 10 years. Nick’s expertise covers all models of ADCP from both of the market-leading suppliers. Nick is able to provide all the skills and understanding needed for effective operational river flow monitoring.
Additional trainer:
Stephen Turner, Hydrologist, UKCEH
Previous course participants said:
The interactive online course in May 2022 had 95% positive feedback.
A field session with the Ireland EPA in June 2022 had 96% positive feedback.
"This course was a great learning experience, it provided us with excellent learning outcomes including the ability to post process collected data to give the most accurate flow measurement result, guidance on how best to deploy ADCP for best results, good insight in difference between leading technologies and what to watch out for, it opened our eyes to the nuances of the software and post processing.
The course has given us confidence in our practices and procedures, but also encouraged us to review and strengthen our policy on the use of ADCPs.
The trainer brought unrivalled knowledge and expertise and has the ability to communicate that effectively; great effort was made to include flow measurement data collected by attendees.
The online setting delivery really worked, it allowed attendees to view and hear course content very well, it facilitated great interaction from participants; it was a very effective means of communicating and much better than expected.
The course is a must for those taking flow measurements and those interpreting data collected"
(Joanne Coomer, Engineer, Hydrometric Section & Peter Newport, Head of Hydrometric Section, Office of Public Works, Ireland, 7 July 2021)
"Very good course delivered by very knowledgeable tutor." (A learner from OPW, Ireland, 19 June 2021)
"The online hosting worked very well allowing focus on subject matter without onsite or classroom distractions" (Peter Newport, Office of Public Works, Ireland, 30 May 2021)
Watch our lead trainer, Nick Everard introducing the ARC boat