Abstract
Abstract Acoustic backscatter has produced spectacular images of internal ocean processes for nearly two decades, but interpretation of the images remains ambiguous because several mechanisms can generate measurable backscatter. The authors present what is thought to be the first simultaneous measurements of calibrated acoustic returns and turbulent microstructure, collected in a set of 20-m-tall billows. The observations are from Admiralty Inlet, a salt-stratified tidal channel near Puget Sound. Scattering due to turbulent microstructure alone is strong enough to explain the measured backscatter at specific sites within the billows. Existing formulations underestimate the strength of acoustic backscatter from turbulent microstructure. Due to a misinterpretation of the high-wavenumber temperature spectrum, some previous formulations underestimate the differential Scattering cross section (σ) when scattering from the viscous-convective subrange. Also, the influence of salinity on refractive-index fluctuati...
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