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.

水体柱体中悬浮泥沙浓度（Suspended Sediment Concentration，SSC，复数形式为SSCs）的测量，对于理解泥沙管控相关的诸多过程具有重要意义。然而直接采样往往劳动强度过高，因此研究人员通常借助声学多普勒流速剖面（Acoustic Doppler Current Profiling, ADCP）观测开展间接采样。当前主流的声学反演方法以发射与接收声波的传播过程为基础，将声学特性与泥沙浓度建立关联。为简化分析流程，常假设存在恒定校准系数，以此表征时空均一的泥沙物理属性。我们对埃姆斯河口层状高浊度通航航道近底层的观测结果表明，仅当后向散射剖面随深度近似呈线性变化时，垂向均一性假设的应用效果才较为理想。