Impiego di una sonda ottica ad immersione per il monitoraggio del traporto solido in sospensione nel torrente Carapelle (Puglia settentrionale)

Flood events in the north-western area of the Puglia Region (Southern-Italy) are characterized by a considerable amount of suspended solids. This phenomenon is a useful indicator of the erosion processes that affect the hillslopes and hydrographic network. In the main torrent the solid load was monitored until 1989 by the National Hydrographic Service using manual sampling. To accurately estimate the sediment transport during flood events and in order to improve the methodologies to assess and predict soil erosion, a watershed representative of the area (Carapelle torrent) was selected, where an experimental station was set up for the continuous measuring of suspended solids. The instrument is a dual function optical immersion probe (turbidity/sediment). It was tested in laboratory and calibrated in field to determine the relationship between optical and gravimetric data and to check the housing device. The high temporal resolution data collected over a 3-year period (2007-2009) were used to analyze the sediment transport dynamics at event scale