Ahighlyefficientflowdischargemeasuringmethodwasproposedinthisstudy.EitherthetraditionalvelocimetersortheAcousticDopplerProfiler(ADP)canbeusedtomeasurethemaximumflowvelocity,Umaxatthey-axis(verticalpassingthroughthemaximumpointvelocityinachannelcrosssection).Themeanvelocityofthecrosssection(U)wascomputedbyφUmax,whereφwasestimatedfromthefielddatacollectedwiththecup-typecurrentmeterusingthe"two-pointmethod".Theflowdischargewasthencomputedbymultiplyingtheestimatedflowareawith(U).Incontrasttothetraditionalmethod,whereflowdepthandflowvelocitymeasurementsareneededforeachvertical,theproposedmethodhastheadvantagesofshortoperationtimeandhighaccuracy.Thesefeaturesareespeciallyimportantforthemeasurementofunsteadyflow.
