Data from a flume investigation using Fiber Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (FO-DTS), U.S. Geological Survey Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, spring 2018

Evaluating technologies and approaches to detect the infiltration of fines into coarser materials has implications for monitoring the condition of habitat restoration sites. This goal motivated testing the efficacy of Fiber Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (FO-DTS) as a technique for detecting the infiltration of fine sediment into gravels. Experiments were conducted in a laboratory flume at the USGS Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory (GSTL) in Golden, Colorado. A 10 meter fiber optic cable was placed in the flume with one half of the cable buried approximately 6 centimeters in a substrate (gravel, sand, and mixtures of the two) along the length of the flume, while the other half was placed at the sediment/water interface. [...]