Next-generation Forecasting of Hazards Offshore from River Deltas

Seafloor avalanches of sediment, known as turbidity currents, can be exceptionally powerful and travel 100s km into the deep sea. These flows pose a significant hazard to seafloor infrastructure such as telecommunication cables, which carry the internet. Understanding the processes that trigger turbidity currents is therefore essential to predict when and where they occur. Detailed measurements of turbidity currents have been made at remote fjorddeltas in British Columbia, Canada, showing flows are preferentially triggered at low tide when river discharge is elevated. However, it is not known if this same relationship between
river discharge and tides exists at major river deltas, where underwater events pose a much greater hazard. This project will use measurements recorded at the Fraser Delta, the largest river system in Western Canada, to test this river-tide relationship on flow triggering. These results will then help us forecast flow activity at river deltas globally.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dan Shugar

Student:

Partner:

University of Southampton

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Calgary

Program: