Use of a 600-kHz Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler to measure estuarine bottom type, relative abundance of submerged aquatic vegetation, and eelgrass canopy height

The acoustic backscatter intensity signal from a high-frequency (600 kHz) Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) was used to categorize four different types of bottom habitat (sand, mud, sparse and dense vegetation) in a shallow-water estuary (Shinnecock Bay, NY, USA). A diver survey of the bay measured sediment and bottom vegetation characteristics at 85 sites within the bay. These data were used to groundtruth the acoustic data. Acoustic data were collected at four sites with known bottom types and used to develop an algorithm that could categorize the bottom type. The slope of the echo intensity profile close to the bottom was used to determine the bottom type and the relative numerical density (sparse or dense) of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV). In areas where eelgrass (Zostera marina) was the dominant SAV species, the intensity profile data were analyzed to measure the height of the vegetation canopy. An acoustic survey which categorized the bottom type of the bay was conducted from a small vessel. The percentage of sampled sites categorized as each bottom habitat type from the acoustic survey was similar to those obtained by the diver survey. These methods may provide a means to rapidly survey estuarine habitats and measure spatial and temporal variations in SAV populations, as well as changes in the height of the eelgrass canopy.