Remote acoustic observations from a real-time observing system of the response of a shallow coastal embayment to hurricane forcing

Abstract

Results are presented from the acoustic remote sensing component of Dalhousie University’s interdisciplinary Coastal Ocean Observatory in Lunenburg Bay, Nova Scotia, operational since June 2002 (www.cmep.ca/bay). Remote acoustic measurements of water column velocity and backscatter are made from bottom-mounted instruments hard-wired to surface buoys. The data are telemetered in near real-time to a shore station via wireless Ethernet, and to Dalhousie over the Internet. The fixed-point measurements from the bottom pods are augmented by a vessel-mounted profiling system, and by opportunistic deployments of internally-recording instruments. Highlights from the first three years of the observing system operation will be presented, including sediment suspension from the seabed and bubble penetration from the surface during Hurricane Juan.