Rapid Detection of the Change in Surface Flow Patterns Near Fish Passages at Hydropower Dams With the Use of UAS Based Videos Under Controlled Discharge Conditions

The importance of keeping river environments healthy drives the scientific community towards the improvement of sustainable and validated environmental monitoring approaches. Accurate data on the state of the ecosystems provided rapidly are key in order to correctly assess, which interventions and management decisions are suitable, and which must be avoided. This paper analyses a rapid non-intrusive approach to change detection in surface flow patterns near fish passages at hydropower dams with the goal to improve the understanding of factors influencing fish passage discoverability. This, in turn, is of great relevance to the sustainability of migrating riverine fish populations from both ecological and economical perspectives. The present study includes three unique experiments performed at a large-scale hydropower dam site with an integrated fish passage under controlled discharge conditions. The analysis is performed with the use of the freely available KLT-IV software. The use of an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) as a camera carrier platform provides the key flexibility in terms of any study site selection. The use of KLT-IV speeds up and simplifies flow pattern analysis, especially when compared to labour-intensive modelling relying on point-based ground truth data. In this paper, we demonstrate that the selected approach can be effectively applied to identify changes in surface flow patterns both in terms of flow velocity magnitudes and in terms of flow directions. It shows that the identification of actual flow patterns near the fish passage entrance provides more information on the potential discoverability of the fish passage than traditionally measured bulk discharge values alone

The design, construction, and commissioning of the KATRIN experiment

The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment, which aims to make a direct and model-independent determination of the absolute neutrino mass scale, is a complex experiment with many components. More than 15 years ago, we published a technical design report (TDR) [1] to describe the hardware design and requirements to achieve our sensitivity goal of 0.2 eV at 90% C.L. on the neutrino mass. Since then there has been considerable progress, culminating in the publication of first neutrino mass results with the entire beamline operating [2]. In this paper, we document the current state of all completed beamline components (as of the first neutrino mass measurement campaign), demonstrate our ability to reliably and stably control them over long times, and present details on their respective commissioning campaigns

The interaction of spatial planning and transport policy: A regional perspective on sprawl

JTLU vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 57-77 (2014)Urban sprawl is caused by the interlinkage of spatial planning and transport characteristics. However, there are only a few approaches that quantify the cross-impacts of policy options in these two spheres. The purpose of this paper is thus a combined regional analysis of spatial planning instruments and transport policy, with a special emphasis on urban–rural diversities. We link a multi-region computable general equilibrium model that incorporates elements of the new economic geography with a transport forecast model. The general equilibrium model illustrates residential choice between urban and peripheral regions, while the transport model depicts the transport implications thereof. Our results suggest that transport policy is obviously effective in addressing transport externalities, while it would have to be set at a politically infeasible stringency to have an effect on residential patterns. As for spatial planning instruments (i.e., expanding housing supply in central regions or limiting it in peripheral regions), we find a strong potential to influence residential choice and hence urban sprawl. Along this line, spatial planning instruments do have a small but still significant impact on reducing transport volume and number of trips. This impact can be enhanced by a policy promoting public transpor

Supplementary Materials for Heterogeneous Surface Velocity Measurement near a Fish Passage at a Hydropower Dam

The footage of the flow near a fish passage at a hydropower dam presented in this dataset can be used for optical analysis of heterogeneous flow patterns. The flow was seeded with cornstarch ecofoam to facilitate the image velocimetry by means of PIV. The footage was acquired with the use of a DJI MAvic Pro UAS in a hovering mode at a 50 m altitude. The ground sampling distance of the images is 0.021 m/px, and the time interval between images in each image pair is 80 ms. The provided footage was stabilised with the help of 11 ground control points that can be seen within the field of view