Simultaneous acoustic observations of turbulence and zooplankton in the ocean

Abstract

Models and laboratory experiments show that zooplankton may locate food more easily in turbulent waters, but whether plankton seek or avoid turbulence in the ocean is an open question. It is difficult to measure turbulence and plankton simultaneously and with the necessary spatial resolution using traditional methods (nets and airfoil shear sensors). Acoustics is commonly used to survey zooplankton abundance and recent studies have shown that stratified turbulence can also be a significant source of sound scatter. This may seem like more of a complication than a boon for those aiming to use acoustics to observe plankton in turbulence. We present acoustic data, however, that show that zooplankton and turbulence can be observed simultaneously with a single 307 kHz sounder. The different natures of the two targets (discrete targets versus a volume effect) allow them to be distinguished. The key is sampling the same targets at multiple ranges. The volume scattering strength of a discrete target will increase as the target nears the sounder, because the volume sampled decreases. Turbulence, as a volume scattering effect, has little range dependence to its volume scattering strength.