Stage Monitoring in Turbid Reservoirs with an Inclined Terrestrial Near-Infrared Lidar

To monitor the stage in turbid reservoirs with a sloping bank, it has been proposed to install a near-infrared Lidar on the bank and to orient it so that it points at the water surface with a large incidence angle (between ≈ 30◦ and 70◦). The technique assumes that the Lidar can detect suspended particles that are slightly below the water surface. Some laboratory results and the first long-term assessment (>2 years) of the technique are presented. It found that: (1) although the test Lidar provides erratic distance data, they can be easily filtered according to the intensity of the received signal; (2) the Lidar provides reliable data only when the water is very turbid (Secchi depth smaller than ≈ 1.0 m); and (3) the reliable data can be used to estimate daily stage values (after a simple field calibration) with an uncertainty better than ±0.08 m (p = 0.95). Although the present form of the technique is not very accurate, it uses an inexpensive instrument (≈1500 USD) which can be easily installed in a safe place (such as is the roof of a building). It is argued that the technique could be also used to monitor the stage and the sub-surface velocity in others turbid water bodies, such as some coastal areas (a recent field of application) and flooding rivers.