PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS OF RADIOISOTOPIC SAND TRACER (RIST) STUDY DATA

Abstract

Data collected during the Radioisotopic Sand Tracer (RIST) field tests are processed through digital computers Data treatment requires computing and plotting the detector position and correcting the corresponding radiation count rates for radioactive decay The field data are recorded on punched paper tape which is then edited and transferred to magnetic tape for input to data reduction programs The navigation data, which are m the form of distances to shore-based microwave responder beacons, are tested for spurious values by comparison with the theoretical maximum travel distances of the survey vehicle between successive fixes The navigation ranges are then converted to rectangular geographical coordinates Present emphasis is in the development of computer programs to construct a count rate surface from data collected along track lines This technique facilitates machine contouring and enables numerical integration of the count rate surface The ultimate goal is to obtain an estimate of mean direction and volume of littoral transport and a radiation material balance to be used to check the results Several programs required to accomplish these tasks are operating at the Coastal Engineering Research Center (CERC) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).