On the use of the acoustic Doppler current profiler to measure zooplankton abundance

Charles N. Flagg; Sharon L. Smith

doi:10.1016/0198-0149(89)90047-2

On the use of the acoustic Doppler current profiler to measure zooplankton abundance

Charles N. Flagg, Sharon L. Smith

Marine Biology and Ecology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

166 Scopus citations

Abstract

A pilot intercalibration study was performed to evaluate the ability of RD Instrument's 307 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler to measure zooplankton abundance. The intercalibration was between a bottom-mounted acoustic profiler deployed in 150 m of water at the edge of the New England shelf and zooplankton samples collected with a MOCNESS net system which was towed near the profiler. The results of the study showed significant correlations between backscattered signal intensity and total zooplankton volume, cross-sectional area, and dry weight. From the correlations it appears to be possible to predict zooplankton biomass to approximately ± 15 mg m^-3 over the range of abundance spanned by our data with enormous resolution in time and space. However, experience with processing the acoustic data clearly indicates that significant results are only possible after careful attention to the calibration of the transducers/electronics and to the quality of the data produced by the individual profiler beams.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	455-474
Number of pages	20
Journal	Deep Sea Research Part A, Oceanographic Research Papers
Volume	36
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/0198-0149(89)90047-2
State	Published - Mar 1989

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Science(all)
Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

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title = "On the use of the acoustic Doppler current profiler to measure zooplankton abundance",

abstract = "A pilot intercalibration study was performed to evaluate the ability of RD Instrument's 307 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler to measure zooplankton abundance. The intercalibration was between a bottom-mounted acoustic profiler deployed in 150 m of water at the edge of the New England shelf and zooplankton samples collected with a MOCNESS net system which was towed near the profiler. The results of the study showed significant correlations between backscattered signal intensity and total zooplankton volume, cross-sectional area, and dry weight. From the correlations it appears to be possible to predict zooplankton biomass to approximately ± 15 mg m-3 over the range of abundance spanned by our data with enormous resolution in time and space. However, experience with processing the acoustic data clearly indicates that significant results are only possible after careful attention to the calibration of the transducers/electronics and to the quality of the data produced by the individual profiler beams.",

author = "Flagg, {Charles N.} and Smith, {Sharon L.}",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements--This study was made possible by the encouragement of the Office of Naval Research which partially funded the work. Also of critical importance was the assistance of Fran Rowe of RD Instruments, Inc. in helping us to understand the capabilities of our ADCP and for making the modifications to our ADCP under severe time constraints. Dr Van Holliday also gave us considerable encouragement and helped us up the bio-acoustics learning curve. Lastly, the assistance of William Behrens, Peter Lane, Eve Schwarting, Dr Creighton Wirick, and Michael Dieckhans during the data collection and reduction was indispensible. This research was supported by the Office of Naval Research under grant N00014-87-0082 and by the Department of Energy under contract AC02-76CH00016.",

year = "1989",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1016/0198-0149(89)90047-2",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "36",

pages = "455--474",

journal = "Deep-Sea Research, Part A: Oceanographic Research Papers",

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AU - Smith, Sharon L.

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PY - 1989/3

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