How to Generate 3D Water Quality in a Remote Lake
Posted by
Dan Aven on Mon, Dec 19, 2011 @ 02:24 PM
How do you survey bathymetric and water quality data on lakes in the middle of nowhere in a
cost-efficient way, both in terms of manpower and money? Normal techniques would use a sonde dropped at specific locations to take samples that measure water quality at certain depths. However, this approach is not only time consuming, but it also paints a limited picture of the water profile, defined by the applied constraints when the survey started. What OASIS Environmental did for a project in southeastern Alaska is contract YSI Incorporated, and their solution was the EcoMapper AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle). Not only did the EcoMapper complete its task in a timely manner and give a complete water profile, but YSI offered the unit as a rental rather than a full purchase, and even included a trained employee to operate the device.
In such a difficult-to-navigate environment, with steep and rocky terrain, EcoMapper’s autonomy was a boon, requiring only a pre-programmed route assisted by GPS to carry out its mission. As EcoMapper moved through the lake, it collected water quality data such as dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, chlorophyll, temperature, and specific conductance in addition to the required bathymetric data, and even used water column profiling to improve the accuracy of the readings. This data was then used to provide 3-D models of the lakes.
Of course, this is only one such application of the versatile EcoMapper water mapping platform. For more information, check out the EcoMapper AUV page.