Technical Note: Surface water velocity observations from a camera: a case study on the Tiber River

Abstract. Monitoring surface water velocity during flood events is a challenging task. Techniques based on deploying instruments in the flow are often unfeasible due to high velocity and abundant sediment transport. A low-cost and versatile technology that provides continuous and automatic observations is still not available. LSPIV (large scale particle imaging velocimetry) is a promising approach to tackle these issues. Such technique consists of developing surface water velocity maps analyzing video frame sequences recorded with a camera. In this technical brief, we implement a novel LSPIV experimental apparatus to observe a flood event in the Tiber river at a cross-section located in the center of Rome, Italy. We illustrate results from three tests performed during the hydrograph flood peak and recession limb for different illumination and weather conditions. The obtained surface velocity maps are compared to the rating curve velocity and to benchmark velocity values. Experimental findings confirm the potential of the proposed LSPIV implementation in aiding research in natural flow monitoring.