Drifting particle simulator for tracking contaminated sediment from stormwater discharge plumes

A drifting particle simulator buoy system for a stormwater discharge plume comprising:

• a GPS unit for tracking the buoy GPS location at the surface of the plume;
• a drogue/winch unit including a drogue chute and winch package which is lowered to the seafloor at a controlled descent rate which is comparable to the descent rate of certain size sediment particles of interest within the stormwater discharge plume;
• the drogue chute controlling lateral drift with the underwater current at approximately the same velocity of the sediment particles of interest;
• a control unit for controlling the drogue/winch unit, including controlling the speed of the chute/winch unit to mimic the settling rate of the sediment particles of interest;
• a bottom detection sensor for determining the GPS location where the chute/winch package reaches the seafloor and determining the depositional footprint of contamination at the determined GPS location;
• the control unit providing the tracking of three dimensional trajectories of sediment originating from the stormwater discharge plume to the final depositional location on the seafloor.