Use of Single-Ping Bottom-Track ADCP Data to Characterize Small-Scale Bathymetry

Abstract

A shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler, in its bottom-track mode, estimates the radial velocity of the transducer relative to the bottom and the range from the transducer to the bottom for each beam of each ping. These data, along with attitude data (pitch, roll, and heading), can be used to map the X, Y, and Z positions of the beam/bottom intercepts. This paper shows how these intercepts can then be used to characterize the size, shape, and orientation of small-scale bathymetric features. The method is applied to data collected over a field of sand waves located 40 km east?northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in 30 m of water. Forty-five sand waves were crossed. The sand waves were oriented in an east?west direction, had characteristic heights of 3 m, wavelengths of 230 m, and northern slopes steeper than southern slopes (e.g., 3.8% versus 2.4%). Some sand waves were sampled repeatedly and extended for several kilometers.