FIBER OPTIC TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT IN STREAMS: OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES, AND FUTURE

Distributed Temperatures Sensors (DTS) may now be measured with 0.25 m spatial resolution and 0.1 C temperature resolution each second along a 5 km fiber optic cable (e.g., 10,000 simultaneous measurements per second). We will show examples of when placed in a stream, such measurement to reveal groundwater upwelling, hyporheic exchange, and spatio-temporal dynamics of stream water at hitherto unavailable resolution. In this talk we will introduce the new opportunities provided scientifically, and announce the recently funded national DTS center to be run by Drs Selker and Tyler to support your ideas and projects. We will provide a realistic appraisal of the limits and opportunities presented by this technology.