"FIELD STUDIES IN ORTHOTIDAL POTAMOLOGY" is a scientific research project (acronym: FSOP). Its activities are funded by UEFISCDI. The UEFISCDI code for this project is PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-2900. The project leader is Dr. Andrei-Emil Briciu.
Abstract
This project is the first research activity that implies field studies for investigating the mechanisms that generate orthotidal rivers. The research team is investigating termal waters in karst areas. Tidal signals are expected to be found in thermal karst springs and rivers. The following water parameters are measured: level/discharge, temperature and electrical conductivity. Air temperature, relative humidity and pressure are also measured in order to observe the influence of the atmosphere on the studied water parameters.
The study areas of this project are located in Romania in 5 distinct regions: Baile Felix-1 Mai, Moneasa, Geoagiu-Bai, Baile Herculane and Harsova. Each region consists of one or more areas where potentially useful thermal, cold and mixed waters were identified and are curently measured by using data loggers. Collected air and water measurement data is used for graphical and statistical analyses intended for describing the local environment (as control factor), for discovering orthotidal signals in surface waters and for proposing hypotheses explaining the generation of the detected periodic signals.
Objectives
The objectives of this research project are:
a. identifying in Romania, through field and lab studies, thermal waters in the karst areas having high chances of recording the gravitational tides.
b. to measure the water level, temperature and electrical conductivity of thermal waters and the necessary environmental parameters (air temperature, humidity and pressure) in the monitoring points selected after fullfilling objective a.; the measurement of the water level will be performed with millimetric precision and sub-hourly resolution; all mentioned parameters will be measured by using instruments purchased through this project.
c. to obtain and process field data from objective b.; identifying valid explanations concerning the export mechanisms of the tidal signal from groundwater to rivers.
d. promoting the new sub-branch of hydrology (orthotidal potamology) and the results of this project at relevant international symposia; promoting the research of this project in order to attract other scientists in this new scientific domain.
e. publishing scientific papers containing the project results in journals indexed in international databases and ISI.
f. to organize one workshop for informing the scientific community about the results of the project and popularising the results to the broad audience.