measurementof net flowinthe sacramento- san joaquin river（measurementof净flowinthe萨克拉门托-圣华金河）.docVIP

ABSTRACT Competition for California’s limited water resources has become increasingly vigorous in recent years. Agricultural and domestic use compete with recreational requirements and legally mandated flows to protect native species. This has led to a need for a reliable determination of the net flow of fresh water into the San Francisco Bay. This requires measuring small net flows in the presence of large tidal flows. We have studied the errors on net flow determined from such measurements, with one of the principal flow channels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta used as an illustrative case study. Continuous monitoring of average channel discharge requires the use of a well calibrated index velocity. We find that the principal error in the determination of net flow lies in the calibration of the index velocity. In our case study, present technology allows the net discharge under conditions of lowest flow to be measured to measured to a precision of 1/2 % of the peak tidal flow. INTRODUCTION The Delta region of California consists of a network of branching, interconnected channels which are strongly tidally affected . As these channels merge, the tidal flow increasingly dominates until the net flow of fresh water becomes undetectable. Four sites have been selected for measurement of the discharge (see figure 1). They are far enough downstream that uncertainties due to consumptive use are minimized, and far enough upstream that the tidal flow may not completely swamp the net discharge. In recent years, two developments have made possible the accurate measurement of flow in tidally affected rivers and estuaries: (1) the acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP)and (2} improved methods for the in-situ measurement of a channel velocity “index.” As an illustration of the accuracy attainable, we will carry out a detailed analysis of measurement errors for the Three-Mile Slough measurement site, with an ultrasonic velocity meter (UVM) as the index