Data and scripts for "Acoustic Profiling of Suspended Sediment Concentration in a Hyperturbid Tidal Environment"

Measurements of SSCs in the water column are important for understanding many processes related to sediment management. Direct sampling is, however, often too labor intensive. Therefore, we often rely on indirect sampling using Acoustic Doppler Current Profiling observations. The acoustic inversion method typically used is based on the propagation of the emitted and received sound wave, relating acoustic properties to sediment concentrations. To simplify the approach constant calibration coefficients are often assumed, representing homogeneous sediment properties in time and space. Our observations from the near-bed layers in a stratified high-turbid navigation channel of the Ems estuary show that the vertical uniformity assumption only performs well when backscatter profiles vary nearly linearly with depth.