Voice of the Rivers

Voice of the RiversJeff SantosEnvironmental geology and Geohydrology B.S. w/ Minor in Environment and Natural resources

Name Wyoming center for Environmental Hydrology and GeophysicsWy Experimental Progam to Stimulate Competitive Research Program sponcered by the National Science Foundationthen Story My favorite activity in life is to sit next to a river and think, read, or watch the leafs maneuver down the rapids like an adventurous little kayaker. On a particularly beautiful summer day I had an epiphany. I can use the river sounds I hear to know how much water is flowing in the river.Has anyone else done this before? I searched and searched through hydrology journals, no one had published the question let alone an answer on how to turn discharge, streamflow, CFS, CMS, or any other way to describe the amount of water flowing down a river. How could do this with no ones shoulders to stand on?1

Different Approach

Tone

PitchAmplitude

Waveform

Different approach: What are ways to describe audio/sound/noise?tone, pitch, amplitude, timbre. It is a signal, has waves (hey thats water related), described in wave lengths, displayed in wave forms, Wait what do these all mean? Before I tell you the rest I must stop to make sure you and I are one the same page, the same wave length.

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DischargeDefining the Terms

= Streamflow Measurement Measured inCubic Feet per Second (CFS)Cubic Meters per Second (CMS)Width x Depth X Velocity

USGS.gov

Before I go forward, I need to define my terms.What do you think when I say discharge?

FIRED?

Measurement of the water flowing a river at a given time.

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Three Research SitesLibby CreekLittle Brooklyn Lake OutletBlair Wallis

Back to my story.Sitting next to the river I will record the sound and see if I can find a specific voice/signal.Then see how that voice changes between locations and over time.

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Blair Wallis Meadow Spectrograph Hz/Sec

Oct 2013Dec 2013April 2014June 2014Aug 2014

I go to each river and record 3-15min. These correspond to a point sample once in each of these months.Stereo Channels, red and orange are high amplitude and purple is low.Oct Low flow .7m acrossDec Covered in Snow and Ice, muffled, filtered out most of the frequencies above 2000hz.April Just coming down off peak flow. Full spectrum of frequencies with increase amplitude. 1.2 m acrossJuen 2014 and Aug are back to steady flow. June has slightly less amplitude because beavers had damed the river. 0.5m width. Aug went back to low flow at .7m width.48k samples a sec.5

Oct 2013Dec 2013April 2014June 2014Aug 2014

Same recordings.Amplitude of each frequencies for a 5 sec sample on a log scale from 100 Hz to 1000 and 1000Hz to 100000Integration under the curve to determine runoff.6

Results of the Study

ConclusionsAble to determine streamflow from audioGood correlation was computedMore parameters to studyExample of scientific methodGreat Outreach tool

Over the summer I was invited to speak to a graduate music class of educators, 2nd grade up to professional composers for their section on environmental music. 10 min turned into 1 hr very quick. At the end, I asked them how they would use my river audio? Professor Rod Garret turned it into an assignment, and I have passed it on to the EPScoR outreach team.

Skill in standards and quality assessmentTime budgetAnswering science questions from new perspectives.Potential for continuing research that I enjoyI was always afraid of research and thought that it was not for meResearch is attainable and possible and serve a purposeI used to think that it was not as important as doing something in the real worldI now see its usefulnessCome to an understanding that scientists in particular field use jargon to intimidate and discourage questioning. Some just cannot communicate well, not all scientists are trying to alienate. I set out to infiltrate the ranks and translate the elites rhetoricI was partially successful and plan to continue my goal of bridging communication between scientists and the public

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Notes:Use a whale microphone9