A Self-Contained Acoustic Scintillation Instrument for Path-Averaged Measurements of Flow and Turbulence with Application to Hydrothermal Vent and Bottom Boundary Layer Dynamics

Abstract

A self-contained acoustical scintillation instrument is described that has been used to measure flow and turbulence characteristics in two diverse oceanographic settings. This instrument is a battery-operated and internally logging acoustic propagation system that is ideally suited to monitor long-term flow and small-scale effective refractive index fluctuations. When the temperature variability dominates the acoustic scattering, as is the case of a hydrothermal vent plume, then a measure of the vertical buoyancy-driven flow, together with the root-mean-square temperature fluctuations, can be obtained. Results for vent structure Hulk of the Main Endeavour vent field of the Juan de Fuca Ridge show that the long-term (71 days) temperature fluctuations, together with the vertical flow, can be used to estimate heat flux density. Measurements also show oscillations in the log-amplitude variance that result from plume advection by the ambient tidal currents and demonstrate the need for a long time series measurement. When the turbulent velocity dominates the acoustic scattering, as is the case in some energetic bottom boundary layer flows, then the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate is derived, assuming isotropic and homogeneous models. The methodology and results are summarized from an application to the Bosporus Canyon of the Black Sea, to monitor the flow and turbulence associated with Mediterranean seawater inflow.