(Erosion and Sediment Transport Measurement in Rivers: Technological and Methodological Advances (Proceedings of the Oslo Workshop, June 2002), IAHS Publication 283, 2003, pp. 88–95).
Knowledge of erosion event timing, frequency and magnitude, in relation to fluctuations in the driving forces, is vital to strong hydrological and geomorphological process inference. However, traditional manual monitoring techniques simply reveal net, temporallylumped, change to the eroding surface since the previous measurement. This paper briefly reviews the original Photo-Electronic Erosion Pin (PEEP) system developed to collect data on the timing, frequency and magnitude of erosional and depositional events. The PEEP system allows, for the first time, the vital automatic monitoring of erosion and deposition events. The paper then briefly tabulates some of the recent improvements to the PEEP system. These are principally designed to generate even more accurate erosion event timing data, and facilitate monitoring of site thermal conditions. Results from the River Wharfe show how the modified PEEP-3 system can: (a) pinpoint more accurately the timing of bank retreat events with respect to the hydrograph (2 h before the flow peak on the Wharfe example here); (b) quantify the erosional impact of individual, rather than aggregated, flow events; (c) clarify the frequency and intensity of on-site bank freeze-thaw cycles; and (d) help to suggest or eliminate the likely bank destabilising processes. Eighteen research groups around the world now use the new PEEP-3 system.
Bank erosion, Bank retreat events, Bank temperature, Flow events, Freeze-thaw cycles, PEEP system, River Wharfe, Thermal Consonance Timing
