Correction method for full-depth current velocity with lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler (LADCP)

A new method is presented to process and correct full-depth current velocity data obtained from a lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler (LADCP). The analysis shows that, except near the surface, the echo intensity of a reflected sound pulse is closely correlated with the magnitude of the difference in vertical shear of velocity between downcast and upcast, indicating an error in velocity shear. The present method features the use of echo intensity for the correction of velocity shear. The correction values are determined as to fit LADCP velocity to shipboard ADCP (SADCP) and LADCP bottom-tracked velocities. The method is as follows. Initially, a profile of velocity relative to the sea surface is obtained by integrating vertical shears of velocity after low-quality data are rejected. Second, the relative velocity is fitted to the velocity at 100–800 dbar measured by SADCP to obtain an “absolute” velocity profile. Third, the velocity shear is corrected using the relationship between the errors in velocity shears and echo intensity, in order to adjust the velocity at sea bottom to the bottom-tracked velocity measured by LADCP. Finally, the velocity profile is obtained from the SADCP-fitted velocity at depths less than 800 dbar and the corrected velocity shear at depths greater than 800 dbar. This method is valid for a full-depth LADCP cast throughout which the echo intensity is relatively high (greater than 75 dB in the present analysis). Although the processed velocity may include errors of 1–2 cm s⁻¹, this method produced qualitatively good current structures in the Northeast Pacific Basin that were consistent with the deep current structures inferred from silicate distribution, and the averaged velocities were significantly different from those calculated by the Visbeck (2002) method.     

Performance of a broad-band acoustic Doppler current profiler

A new broadband acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) is described, with a useful range comparable to that of a commercially available narrowband (incoherent) system of the same acoustic frequency, but having enhanced performance. The extra performance may be traded off among (1) reduced velocity variance, (2) reduced averaging time, and (3) finer depth resolution. This improvement permits the observation of phenomena with smaller time and space scales than is now possible with available ADCPs. An expression predicting r.m.s. velocity error in terms of system parameters and the measured acoustic data is given and is shown to be consistent with the independently measured velocity error among redundant beams. Two major sources of bias error in incoherent ADCPs are shown to be much reduced for the broadband system. Field data demonstrating the improved performance over the existing incoherent ADCP are shown for cases of both strong and weak shear     

Monitoring the deep western boundary current in the western North Pacific by echo intensity measured with lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler

Oxidation of iron and manganese ions is predominant in the oxygen-rich deep western boundary current (DWBC) within the Pacific Ocean. By the faster removal of particulate iron hydroxide and manganese oxide, densities of the particulate matters are considered to be lower in the DWBC than the interior region. To detect the density variation of suspended particles between the DWBC and interior regions, we analyzed echo intensity (EI) measured in the western North Pacific by hydrographic casts with a 300 kHz lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler (LADCP) in a whole water column. At depths greater than 3000 m (~ 3000 dbar), EI is almost uniformly low between 12°N and 30°N but peaks sharply from 30°N to 35°N to a maximum north of 35°N. EI is found to be anomalously low in the DWBC compared to the background distribution. The DWBC pathways are identifiable by the low EI and high dissolved oxygen concentration. EI data by LADCPs and other acoustic instruments may be used to observe the temporal variations of the DWBC pathways.

     

自由投放式声学多普勒海流剖面观测及数据处理

自由投放式声学多普勒海流剖面（FADCP）观测以“自由落体”方式进行采样,其不依赖于测船钢缆牵引即可对全深度海流进行观测,观测稳定性较下放式声学多普勒海流剖面（LADCP）大幅提升,有效减少了观测值之中的不规则运动。2021年4月与9月在南海西沙海域开展的FADCP观测实验获得了两个断面包含16个站的海流及CTD资料。基于静置期间的真实底流观测,各站全深度的海流剖面采用剪切法获得,潜标附近站位剖面与潜标观测剖面相比,平均流速偏差为3 cm/s。观测断面捕捉到了西沙海域两个时期的气旋涡,其垂直结构比HYCOM模拟更精细,表层流与绝对地转流契合。研究表明,FADCP对测船要求低、数据质量高,其后处理简便且结果良好,但无法对特定水层实施补充观测。     

Methodical aspects of the application of acoustic Doppler current profilers in the Black Sea

For the first time, an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) produced by the RDI is used in the water area of the Black Sea in the lowered mode. This direction in the application of acoustic Doppler current profilers is now in the stage of development and verification of various procedures of measurements with subsequent data processing and enables one to get the distributions of current velocities down to depths of 1000–6000 m depending on the modification of the instrument. We describe the procedures of measurements performed with the help of the ADCP in the lowered mode in the course of an expedition and the stages of processing of the primary data based on the experience of application of similar acoustic current profilers at the Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences accumulated in the 1980s. We generalize the experience of application of ADCP under the hydrological conditions of the Black Sea, propose the algorithms of data processing, present the profiles of absolute current velocity at several stations, compare these profiles with the geostrophic velocities, and determine the deep-water structure of the field of currents in a shelf-open-sea section made along 31.17°E. __________ Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 4, pp. 31–48, July–August, 2006.     

Nearshore directional wave measurements by surface-following buoy and acoustic Doppler current profiler

Directional energy spectra of nearshore surface waves were measured for a 3-year period (2004–2007) at a site with mean depth 14 m and mean tidal range 2.1 m. Triaxys surface-following wave buoys reported hourly directional wave energy spectra and wave parameters near the offshore end of the Savannah River Entrance Channel, Georgia, USA. An acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) was located beside the wave buoy for 3 months. Directional and non-directional surface wave energy spectra and the corresponding bulk wave parameters (height, period, and direction) are compared for the two systems. Most parameters derived from the spectra agree closely; the most significant differences were found at the upper and lower frequency measurement limits, where signal-to-noise ratios were lower. The wave buoy consistently reports a small amount of energy below 0.05 Hz that does not appear in the ADCP-derived spectra and does not appear to be related to the mooring system. This leads to larger mean and peak periods reported by the buoy. All directional spectra were computed using the Maximum Entropy Method for both instruments, but the buoy, with spectra derived from six independent time series, provides lower directional resolving power than the ADCP, which utilizes twelve time series. Both systems gave similar results defining mean and peak wave directions, with the primary difference being that the ADCP indicates energy to be more tightly concentrated around the peak direction.     

基于声学仪器与粒径分析仪研究东海浮游动物昼夜垂直迁移过程

浮游动物的昼夜迁移活动与其种群变动和摄食节律紧密联系,浮游动物昼夜移动的研究已经成为种群动力学研究的一个重要组成部分。2013年夏季在浙江东部近海,结合声学多普勒流速剖面仪(ADCP)和激光粒径分析仪(LISST-100)等仪器进行了一次定点周日连续观测。通过声学反演方法,得到后向散射强度剖面的时间变化,结合LISST-100得到的水体悬浮物粒径谱,研究了浮游动物垂直迁移及其习性。分析发现了可能是精致真刺水蚤的一次昼夜垂直迁移过程,其在夜间进入跃层附近进食,白天蛰伏于底层低温高盐的台湾暖流水中,垂向迁移速度达到了0.05 m/s。LISST-100观测还发现在夜间跃层边界处大粒径颗粒聚集和100～150 μm大小的颗粒物的减少,水体中不同粒径的悬浮颗粒物有明显的昼夜变化节律,推测水体中不同层次生物群落结构存在昼夜差异。     

基于PAADCP 的海流流速的误差分析及校正方法

为了更加合理、有效地利用海流测速数据,必须进行误差分解和校正。通过分析相控阵声学多普勒海流剖面仪(PAADCP)测试海流流速的原理,提出了海试数据粗差区别与动态校正的算法,采用小波多尺度分析方法,降低了系统误差和随机误差,建立了海流流速的误差分析与校正方法。利用海试实测的垂向流速数据,分析了一般情况下的海流流速的误差,得到垂向流速的均值±0.02 m/s,误差精确度小于0.23 m/s,验证了方法的有效性及合理性。所得算法和方法对于海流测速数据的实时处理和后处理具有实用价值。     

Acoustic Doppler current profiler performance in near surface andbottom boundaries

The authors discuss the current measurement accuracy of the RD Instruments 1200-kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) in the near surface and bottom boundaries. Data are presented from tests. In the first series of tests, an ADCP was mounted on a bottom sled in an upward looking mode. The sled was towed at known speeds with and without surface waves. Additionally, tests were conducted with several acoustic baffle designs installed in the transducer head. The 1200-kHz ADCP has the ability to accurately measure mean currents in a dynamic wave induced flow field. Sidelobes can bias the measurements at 85% of the range when bottom or surface boundaries are present. The amount of bias is strongly dependent on surface wave characteristics. Sidelobe bias can be eliminated with a properly designed baffle system. The profilers have the ability to measure wave particle velocities with a properly configured system     

Wave particle velocities measured with a Doppler current meter

A newly developed three-dimensional Doppler current meter is described and the results of preliminary field experiments are presented where simultaneous measurements of surface elevation and water velocity associated with wave orbital motion were made. The phase difference between the surface elevation and the vertical velocity measured at 1.0 and 0.45 meters below the mean water level is found to be approximately 90, in accord with the theory for surface waves of infinitesimally small amplitudes. The spectral (frequency) density distribution for velocity is also found to agree with that we would expect from the linear theory for the observed frequency distribution of surface elevation. However, the amplitude of velocity is consistently smaller (about 10 %) than that we would expect. This reduction of amplitude is more pronounced in cases where waves are high and the water depth is shallow.     

A numerical experiment on computations of the Black Sea density fields and current velocities during summer

A near-bottom pressure equation consistent with the original set of difference equations is derived in the framework of a numerical energetically-balanced model. The model is used to simulate numerically three-dimensional density and current velocity fields and in the Black Sea for a specific season. The climatic values of temperature, salinity, and tangential wind stress during summer are applied as the original conditions. Analysis of the hydrophysical fields at the final moment of integrating is performed. The difference between new data and data derived earlier is demonstrated.Translated by V. Puchkin.     

The swarm dynamics of northern krill (Meganyctiphanes norvegica) and pteropods (Cavolinia inflexa) during vertical migration in the Ligurian Sea observed by an acoustic Doppler current profiler

A ship-mounted 153 kHz narrow-band ADCP and 1 m² MOCNESS were deployed between 16 and 24 Sept. 1997 in the Ligurian central zone (∼43°20′N 7°48′E). Results from both instruments showed that the zooplankton community performed vertical migrations that conformed to the classical pattern of ascent at dusk (∼18:30 h) and descent at dawn (∼06:30 h). Depth-discrete net samples between 0 and 500 m showed that the community was dominated by two species, the euphausiid Meganyctiphanes norvegica (Northern krill) and the pteropod Cavolinia inflexa, which migrated in separate discrete bands that were detectable by the ADCP. Information from the ADCP was used to estimate vertical migration speed in two ways: (i) from the trajectory of the back-scattering bands over time and (ii) from the Doppler-shift vertical velocity measured within depth zones at the corresponding time and depth of these bands. Estimates of the migration speed of C. inflexa were between 2 and 7 cm s⁻¹ upwards and between 4 and 7 cm s⁻¹ downwards. M. norvegica was estimated to migrate at speeds between 7 and 8 cm s⁻¹ upwards and over 11 cm s⁻¹ downwards. The consistently lower migration speeds estimated from Doppler measurements as compared with estimates obtained from measuring trajectories of back-scattering bands over time was believed to result from a methodological artefact. The Doppler measurements were nevertheless useful in a relative sense in revealing the relative speed of individuals within swarms. It was shown that individuals at the front of the upwardly migrating band of M. norvegica moved more slowly than those at the rear. These results illustrate the extra biological information that can be obtained by ADCPs compared with conventional echo-sounders.     

The diel verticalmigration of sound scatterers observed by an acoustic Doppler current profiler in the Luzon Strait from July 2009 to April 2011

Acoustic Doppler current profiler （ADCP） receives echoes from sound scatterers, then their speed is calcu- lated by the Doppler effect. In the open ocean, most of these backscatterers are from the plankton. The sound scatterers descend down to depth at around dawn, their mean speed is 2.9 cm/s, then they ascend up to the surface layer at around dusk with a mean speed of 2.1 cm/s, in the Luzon Strait. The descending speed is faster, which suggests that this zooplankton population may accelerate its downward migration under the action of the gravity. The vertical distribution of a mean volume backscattering strength （MVB- S） in the nighttime has two peaks, which locate near the upper and lower boundary layers of halocline, respectively. However, the backscatterers only aggregate near the surface layer in the daytime. The diel ver- tical migration （DVM） of sound scatterers has several characteristic patterns, it is stronger in summer, but weaker in winter, and the maximum peak occurs in September. The DVM occurrence is synchronous with the seawater temperature increasing at around dawn and dusk, it may affect the ocean mixing and water stratification,     

Seasonal physical–chemical structure and acoustic Doppler current profiler flow patterns over multiple years in a shallow, stratified estuary, with implications for lateral variability

The overall goal of this study was to strengthen understanding of the hydrographic structure in shallow estuaries as influenced by seasonal and depth-dependent variability, and by variability from extreme meteorological events. The mesohaline Neuse Estuary, North Carolina, U.S.A., which was the focus, receives surface inputs from upriver and tributary freshwater sources and bottom inputs from downriver high-salinity sound water sources, resulting in varying degrees of stratification. To assess depth-dependent, estuary-wide changes in salinity, a multiple time series was created using data from four discrete depths (surface and 1, 2, and 3 m±0.25 m). The database was developed from weekly to biweekly sampling of the entire water column, and included side-channel as well as mid-channel data. We characterized seasonal differences in halocline depth affecting the hydrographic structure of the mesohaline estuary and site-specific variation in nutrient concentrations, based on a comprehensive eight-year physical/chemical database. The first two years of the record showed an expected seasonal signal and included events that impacted the surface layer from freshwater inputs. Remaining years had greater variability over seasons and depths, with freshening events that affected all depths. Halocline depth was compared at specific locations, and a “snapshot” view was provided of the relative depth of these water masses within the estuary by season. We also examined flow patterns at the same cross-estuary sites over a three-year period, using a boat-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) with bottom-tracking capability. Composite visualizations constructed with single-transect ADCP data revealed a classical estuarine circulation pattern of outflow at the surface/southern shore and inflow at the bottom/northern shore. Although this pattern deviated under extreme climatological events and was sometimes variable, the estuary generally exhibited a high probability of direction of flow. Wind fields, hurricanes, and small-scale, high-precipitation events represented significant forcing variables.     

Seasonal variability of acoustic characteristics in the northern Black Sea continental slope area

The peculiarities of seasonal variability of the calculated sound speed and elements of its vertical stratification in the northern Black Sea continental slope are considered. Typical acoustic structures have been identified. The impact of seasonal variability of the sound speed upon the ray characteristics of acoustic fields is studied. Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

Peculiarities of the Black Sea rim current near the Crimean coast

This paper discusses the quasi-stationary Black Sea rim current velocity field observed at seven points of the shelf area and continental slope in the vicinity of South Crimea from 6 June to 15 July, 1991. Current velocity fluctuations conditioned by the difference in atmospheric pressures over the eastern part of the sea and the western one, with the wind speed being 5 cm s⁻¹, have been studied. Inertial and seiche flows are described numerically. The peculiarities of the kinematics of the Black Sea rim current’s regular component have been scrutinized. Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

Design and tests of a trawl-resistant package for an acousticDoppler current profiler

A package designed to protect an RD Instrument Ltd. acoustic Doppler current profiler survived several passages of a bottom trawl. The package, in the shape of a truncated pyramid, has a base 4 m by 3.3 m and a height of 53 cm. The authors describe the package, its deployment method, and field test results where a trawl was repeatedly dragged over the unit. The device has been used successfully three times on the continental shelf. Some acoustic measurements were also made to ascertain the effect of the package on the beam pattern. The results show that this design can protect the instrument from bottom trawls and the acoustic beams are minimally affected by the plastic plate in front of the instrument transducers     

Experimental research on the hydrophysical characteristics and dynamics of waters in the north-west Black Sea in the region of the main Black Sea current

The results of measurements of hydrophysical parameters in the upper layer of the sea at an observation site located south-west of the Crimea are reported. The current pattern, the distribution of the upwelling and downwelling zones at the observation site, and the location of the mesoscale fronts are discussed.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Optimal statistical estimates of the vertical current velocity in the north-western Black Sea

The paper discusses a method for the statistical evaluation of the vertical current velocity componentV _z(z) using data provided by profilers. The calculation of theV _z(z) profiles involves the determination of the root-mean-square deviation of the error of determination of the vetical current velocity component at each level and the RMS deviation of the sample statistical variability of this quantity's estimates. ProfilesV _z(z) have been computed for the north-western Black Sea using three surveys, with the involvement of an OLT profiler. The computations have shownV _z(z) to have a two-layer structure, with zero being crossed in the main pycnocline. Such structure of the current velocity vertical component is consistent with the hydrodynamic model of the field of currents induced by buoyancy fluxes through the lateral boundaries of the basin. The availability of the zero values of the vertical current velocity in the pycnocline yields a tool for gaining insight into the mechanism controlling the emergence of the oxic/anoxic interface and areas with sharp vertical gradients of chemical and hydro-optical characteristics. Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.