Inferring the acoustic dead-zone volume by split-beam echo sounder with narrow-beam transducer on a noninertial platform

Abstract

Acoustic measurement of near-bottom fish with a directional transducer is generally problematical because the powerful bottom echo interferes with weaker echoes from fish within the main lobe but at greater ranges than that of the bottom. The volume that is obscured is called the dead zone. This has already been estimated for the special case of a flat horizontal bottom when observed by an echo sounder with a stable vertical transducer beam [Ona, E., and Mitson, R. B. (1996). ICES J. Mar. Sci. 53, 677-690]. The more general case of observation by a split-beam echo sounder with a transducer mounted on a noninertial platform is addressed here. This exploits the capability of a split-beam echo sounder to measure the bottom slope relative to the beam axis and thence to allow the dead-zone volume over a flat but sloping bottom to be estimated analytically. The method is established for the Simrad EK60 scientific echo sounder, with split-beam transducers operating at 18, 38, 70, 120, and 200 kHz. It is validated by comparing their estimates of seafloor slope near the Lofoten Islands, N67-70, with simultaneous measurements made by two hydrographic multibeam sonars, the Simrad EM100295 kHz and EM30030 kHz systems working in tandem.