Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103 118

www.elsevier.com/locate/coastaleng

Observations of suspended sediment from ADCP and OBS

measurements in a mud-dominated environment
A.J.F. Hoitinka,b,*, P. Hoekstraa
a

Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, Utrecht 3508 TC, The Netherlands
b
Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management Group, Wageningen University, Nieuwe Kanaal 11,
6709 PA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Received 26 January 2004; received in revised form 14 September 2004; accepted 22 September 2004
Available online 14 November 2004

Abstract
The ability of a 1.2-MHz Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) to measure suspended sediment concentration (SSC)
and particle size variation in a mud-dominated environment has been investigated. Experiments were conducted in the Bay of
Banten, Indonesia, where clays and silts in the range of 355 Am are prevalent. The ADCP backscatter depends both on SSC
and on the size of the scatterers. Over the time span of several separate deployments, which lasted 20 days at most, SSC was
found to be proportional to the acoustically normative grain size squared. Using this relation, the ADCP could be calibrated to
yield depth profiles of SSC. The obtained calibrations, however, were spatially and seasonally dependent. Differences between
the calibrations could not be completely ascribed to variation in grain size distributions, due to the largely unknown influences
of aggregates and organic scatterers. The ADCP backscatter measurements provided insight into diurnal events of erosion and
subsequent deposition. An increase or decrease of SSC generally coincided with a raise or decline of the average grain size in
the sediment suspension (respectively).
D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Acoustic backscatter; Bay of Banten; ADCP; OBS; Calibration; Suspended sediment

1. Introduction
Regarding the measurement of SSC in coastal
waters, optical and acoustical devices have different
pros and cons and may therefore be complementary

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: t.hoitink@geog.uu.nl, ton.hoitink@wur.nl
(A.J.F. Hoitink).
0378-3839/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.coastaleng.2004.09.005

(Thorne and Hanes, 2002). Optical devices include

transmissometers and Optical BackScatter (OBS)
sensors which have been successfully used in many
applications focussing on fine-grained sediments (cf.
Bryce et al., 1998; Green et al., 2000; Van Weering et
al., 2002).
Estimates of SSC from those instruments may be
regarded as point measurements, which restricts either
the spatial or temporal resolution of the SSC
observations, unless a suite of instruments is avail-

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A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

able. Moreover, many optical devices in use are

intrusive, as they disturb the local flow field.
Acoustic profilers are capable of yielding SSC
estimates over the depth range which is ensonified, at
a high temporal and spatial resolution. They are
nonintrusive as the sediment suspension is being
monitored at distance. Acoustic backscatter strongly
depends on sediment properties such as particle size,
shape, and density. In particular, irregularities of the
particle size distribution restrict the accuracy of the
acoustic SSC estimates, which can be partly overcome
by using multiple frequencies (Hay and Sheng, 1992).
The assumption of a homogeneous distribution of
particle sizes is commonly valid for sand suspensions
(Sheng and Hay, 1988; Hanes, 1988; Thorne et al.,
1993), rendering acoustic devices particularly valuable for sand concentration measurements.
Few studies have addressed the performance of
acoustic SSC meters in marine environments where
silt or clay is prevalent. Lynch et al. (1991, 1994)
analyzed the dynamics of a deep-sea benthic boundary
layer with sediments in the range of 1 to 100 Am, using
Acoustic BackScatter Systems (ABSSs), OBS sensors,
and a Laser In Situ Settling Tube. Lynch et al. (1991)
showed how combining data from a 1-MHz ABSS
with OBS observations can be used to obtain grain size
information in the bottom meter of the boundary layer
subject to study, which was at 90 m depth. Lynch et al.
(1994) compared estimates of SSC at 2 and 4 m above
the bottom using a 1-MHz ABSS and a transmissometer, which showed an excellent agreement.
Hill (2003) introduced a 1D Lagrangian particle
tracking model that yields profiles of SSC from the
current velocity and backscatter measurements of a
1-MHz Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP),
which was validated using transmissometer data as a
reference. Though designed for current profiling (cf.
Lane et al., 1999), the ADCP yields SSC information
based on the same principles as the ABSS. The model
by Hill (2003) was forced by data from the Dover
Straits and from the Mersey estuary, the latter of which
contains a considerable silt fraction. The agreement
for the SSCs involved a skill (r 2) in between 0.61 and
0.83. Hill (2003) did not present a direct comparison
of the ADCP backscatter-derived estimates of SSC
with simultaneous transmissometer estimates.
The primary objective of the present paper is to
establish the potential of a 1.2-MHz ADCP for

measurement of SSC in the Bay of Banten, which is

a tropical bay composed of mixture of silt and clay.
An additional aim is to explore the possibility to
derive particle size information from simultaneous
ADCP and OBS measurements in the bay. In Section
2, the theory of acoustic backscattering and sound
attenuation in seawater is briefly reviewed. Section 3
discusses the experimental site, the instruments used,
and the protocols for data logging and filtering. The
calibration of the OBS and the conversion of ADCP
backscatter information to estimates of suspended
mass concentration is presented in Section 4. In
Section 5, a comparison is made between the ADCP
and OBS estimates of suspended mass concentration,
which is further discussed in Section 6. Section 7
concludes this paper by summarizing the main results.

2. Acoustic formulation
2.1. Application of the sonar equation
The ADCP backscatter of sound from an aqueous
suspension containing sediment can be modelled by
the sonar equation (Medwin and Clay, 1998), describing the balance between the difference between
emitted and received energy and the energy lost
during the round trip of the acoustic pulse. A working
version of the sonar equation in units of decibel is
adopted here, which reads (Deines, 1999):



TT R2
Sv 2aR Kc E  Er 10log10
C 1
LPT
Herein, S v denotes the volume backscattering strength
(Section 2.2) [dB], R is the slant range or range along
the central beam axis [m], a is the attenuation
coefficient (Section 2.3) [dB/m], E is the echo
strength [counts], E r is received noise [counts], K c is
a scale factor [dB/count], T T is the transducer
temperature [8C], L denotes transmit pulse length
[m], P T is the transmit power [W], and C is a constant
[dB].
The values of E r and K c are beam-specific and may
be determined from calibration. The ADCP records T T,
P T, and E and computes R from the time span between
emission and reception of the acoustic pings using a
formula for the speed of sound (Medwin, 1975).

A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

2.2. Volume backscattering strength related to SSC

The volume backscattering strength, S v, can be
expressed in terms of the density of scatterers within a
scattering volume, n b, and the mean square backscattering cross-section hr bsi (Medwin and Clay,
1998):
Sv 10log10 nb hrbs i

For spherical particles, the density of scatterers relates

to the volume mass concentration (M) as in:
4
M nb qs pha3 i
3

where a denotes the particle radius [m] and q s is the

sediment density [kg m3]. The acoustical scattering
cross section depends on the size of a scatterer relative
to the length of the effective plane wave incident on
the sediment particle, which is captured in the product
ka. In Rayleigh scatter, where kaV1, the acoustical
scattering cross-section is very much smaller than the
geometrical cross-section because the sound waves
bend around, and are hardly affected by, acoustically
small nonresonant bodies (Medwin and Clay, 1998).
For a spherical particle acting as a Rayleigh scatterer,
the acoustical scattering cross-section can be represented by (Rayleigh, 1945):
rbs 4p#k 4 a6

Herein, # is a material parameter which reads

(Anderson, 1950):

#

e1
3e

2

g1
2g 1

2
5

where e is the ratio of the elasticity of the sphere to

that of the medium and g is the ratio of the density of
the sphere to that of the medium. Combining (24)
gives:


Sv 10log10

3#k 4 3
ha iM
qs


6

The value ka=1 can be considered an upper limit of

the validity of the Rayleigh regime (Urick, 1983).
Johnson (1977) formulated a high-pass model to

105

account for reduction of r bs if ka is in the order of

unity or larger, which reads
rbs

2p#ka4 a2
2 3ka4

Using Johnsons model, the Rayleigh scattering law

overestimates r bs for ka=1 by 9%.
2.3. Sound absorption
Sound absorption in seawater, a may be due
relaxation in seawater with dissolved substances, a w
[dB/m], and attenuation due to the suspended load, a s
[dB/m], which depends on sound scattering and
viscous absorption by suspension material:
a aw as

The empirical research on the attenuation of sound

in seawater with only dissolved substances has been
summarized by Francois and Garrison (1982a,b),
which yields the relation between a w and temperature
and salinity. In coastal waters, the influence of
variation in temperature and salinity on a w is rarely
appreciable.
Sound attenuation due to suspended sediment was
analyzed by Urick (1948), who demonstrated that the
absorption by the suspension material is given by

4 3

k a
k r  1 2 s
20
M
as

96qs
2qs s2 r d2 ln10
s


9
2
1
2bhai
bhai

r qs =qw



1
9
d
1
2
bhai
r
pf
b
v

provided ka is small compared with unity and bd.

Herein, k is the wave number [m1], equal to 2p/k, M
is the sediment mass concentration [kg m3], q w is the
seawater density [kg m3], q s is the sediment density
[kg m3], and m is the kinematic viscosity of water

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A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

[m2 s1]. As m may be attributed a value of 1106

m2 s1 and taking f=1.2 MHz, the condition kabba is
generally satisfied for realistic values of k.

3. Site and instrumentation

The Bay of Banten is situated along the north
coast of Java, close to the Strait Sunda that separates
Java from Sumatra (Fig. 1). The bay has a mean
depth of about 8 m and harbors over 10 reef-built
islets, of which Pulau Panjang is the largest. Along
the seaward edge of the bay, the 10-m isobath marks
a steepening of the bottom that connects the bay to
the southwestern Java Sea, where depths are
typically 20 m. Four of the five measuring sites
are located inside the bay (Fig. 1). Besar and Kubur

were chosen in the bays eastern and central areas,

respectively, and are both at an approximate depth of
8 m. Utara and Selat are located at the foreslope east
and west of Pulau Panjang, at depths of about 11 and
13 m, respectively. Salira, finally, is located in the
Java Sea at the 18-m isobath north of the Gede
mountain complex that shapes the western margin of
the bay.
The bottom sediments in the bay were analyzed
by Van den Bergh et al. (2003). They distinguish
between the eastern part of the bay, where currently
erosion takes place, the aforementioned foreslope
that is subject to relatively high accumulation rates
and the remainder of the bay, where accumulation
rates are notably smaller. The erosive eastern part of
the bay coincides with a subtidal inactive delta front
where wind and tide-driven currents are compara-

Fig. 1. Map showing the location of the five experimental sites.

A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

tively strong. Hoitink and Hoekstra (2003) demonstrated that the tidal flow and monsoonal currents in
the embayment are principally bidirectional, along
the bays isobaths. The tidal flow at the foreslope is
characterized by strong shears, which are associated
to the time lag between tidal currents in the bay and
at the Java Sea. In the remainder of the bay,
currents gradually reduce in magnitude when moving southward.
Throughout the bay, sediments in the top few
centimeters of the bed constitute a fairly homogeneous layer of fine-grained silty clays and clayey silts.
From six sediment samples taken at 2.5 cm below the
bed in the southern, central, and eastern part, the
average values of d 50, d m, and d 90 amounted to 6, 15,
and 35 Am, respectively, where d 50 and d m respectively denote the median and mean particle grain size
and d 90 is the grain diameter exceeded by 10%, by
weight of sample. The sample with the finest grains
was extracted in the south, with d 50=3 Am, d m=9 Am
and d 90=22 Am, and the one with the coarsest grains
was taken from the subtidal delta, with d 50=11 Am,
d m =23 Am, and d 90=55 Am. The particle size
distributions of the sediments in suspension are
presumed to be largely comparable to these of the
bottom sediments, yet differences due to bed armoring
and flocculation are acknowledged. The results of
samples taken in the western part of the bay are
ignored because they contain substantial amounts of
faecal pellets (Van den Bergh et al., 2003), which are
unlikely to become resuspended. The faecal pellets
caused a peak in the particle size distribution at
approximately 100 Am.
At each of the five measuring sites, shipboard
measurements were taken twice over the time span
of 25 h, in different seasons. A downward-looking
ADCP operated for 10 min every hour storing
velocity and backscatter data, when an OBS attached
to a CTD probe was winched down to a level of
about 50 cm from the bed and back, within a few
meters of the ADCP. The up-casts of the OBS
readings were incidentally disturbed by suspended
sediment clouds, which were generated if the CTD
probe with the attached OBS sensor and extra weight
touched the seabed. The SSC profiles of the upper
parts of the water column were always identical for
the up-casts and the corresponding down-casts. Only
the down-casts of the OBS readings were used.

107

In addition, long-term surveys were carried out at

Besar and Kubur, lasting 20 days at both sites. During
these observations, the ADCP was mounted on a
wooden fishing platform and operated nearly continuously. From the fishing platforms, a depth profile of
optical backscatter, salinity, and temperature was
obtained once every hour during daytime. The
observations took place during surveys in March
1998, October 1998, and February through April
1999. A total of 92 in situ bottle samples of sediment
suspensions were taken for calibration of the OBS
sensor, spread out over the three survey periods and a
number of locations in the bay.
The ADCP stored data with a vertical resolution of
25 cm, except for the Salira observations, where the
bin size was chosen at 50 cm. The ADCP transmitted 8
pings per ensemble at 1.2 MHz, in four beams at an
angle of 208 to the vertical. Accordingly, four
independent backscatter profiles were obtained once
every 3 s. The depth registration of the ADCP was
corrected for variations in the sound propagation speed
using the temperature and conductivity obtained from
the CTD casts. The acoustic samples for which the
maximum difference between the synchronous backscatter intensities exceeded 2 dB were discarded. This
corresponds to a maximum disagreement between the
four concentration estimates of 58%. This filtering
method provides for the removal of spikes which may
be due to fish, and excludes the observations made
during periods of strong spatial variability of SSC.

4. Calibrations
4.1. OBS calibration using water samples
The suspended mass content of the water samples
was measured by vacuum filtration of a fixed
amount of water on preweighed polycarbonate filters
with a pore size of 0.4 Am. After filtration, the filters
were cleaned with nanopure water to remove salts,
washed with alcohol, and were dried and weighed.
The regression results of the SSC measurements
taken from water samples with OBS voltage is
shown in Fig. 2. A slight reduction of the OBS
response occurred in the course of the fieldwork,
which may be attributed to micro scratching of the
OBS window. Separate linear regression lines were

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A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

Fig. 2. OBS calibration using the in situ mass in water samples. Due to scratching of the OBS window, the regression line of February 1999 has
slightly shifted compared to the foregoing periods.

used for the measurements in 1998 and 1999. The

OBS measurements are here treated as bground
truthQ, yet it is noted that OBS measurements may
also have a weak size-dependent response. A recent
laboratory study performed by Hatcher et al. (2001)
elucidated that size-related OBS responses are
primarily due to flocculation, which frustrates the
expected linear relation between suspended mass
concentration and particle-projected area. The optical
backscatter from a flocculating suspended mass
declines due to the fact that the particle-projected
area of a floc is smaller than the sum of the particleprojected areas of the primary particles in the
disaggregated situation.

therefore be considered Rayleigh scatterers. For

aggregates up to a 100 Am, ka remains below 1, yet
it is uncertain whether flocs may acoustically be
considered spherical. From (6), it was established that
within the Rayleigh regime, exp(S v/10) is proportional
to the product ba 3NM. The particle size and mass
concentration are often correlated, however, which
needs to be accounted for to obtain an unambiguous
relation between acoustic backscatter and suspended
mass concentration.
There is empirical evidence for a relation between
the particle fall velocity (w s) and M of the form (Dyer,
1994; Van Leussen, 1994; Whitehouse et al., 2000):

4.2. ADCP backscatter conversion to SSC

where c is an empirical constant and b is an empirical

exponent. The well-known Stokes Law, in turn,
provides for a relation between w s and a for
1baV50 Am, which reads:

The mass concentrations in the bay varied between

0 and 30103 kg m3 (Fig. 2). Using typical,
maximum and minimum values for the variables in
(9), the sound attenuation due to the prevailing
sediments in suspension appeared to be negligible.
The acoustic scattering from particles in the range of 3
to 55 Am, subjected to 1.2 MHz sound pulses, is
generally within the Rayleigh regime. For these
particles, the values of ka vary between 0.01 and
0.14, assuming a sound propagation speed of 1500 m
s1. The un-flocculated, resuspended sediments may

ws cM b

ws

2qs  qw ga2
9m

10

11

where d denotes particle diameter. Equating (10) to

(11) provides for a relation between M and a, if b is
known. In the absence of particle size measurements
of the sediments in suspension, a default value of
b=1.0 is adopted here, as suggested by Whitehouse et

A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

al. (2000). Combining (6), (10) and (11) then results

in:
10

Sv =10

3#k 4

qs

18am
qs  qw g

1:5

M 2:5

12

or
M a10Sv =25

13

The validity of (13) depends most crucially on the

assumptions of a constant value of a, and b=1, which
implicitly prescribe the effect of flocculation on the
mean particle size. Although it is widely accepted that
(10) is valid for concentrations within the range of
0.0025 kg m3 (Dyer, 1994), there are studies where
no correlation is found between mean particle size and
concentration, which challenge the general capability
of (10) to properly reflect the flocculation process.
The applicability of (10) may therefore be context
dependent. Studies on aggregation behavior in tropical environments comparable to the setting in Teluk
Banten, with concentrations in the range 00.03 kg
m3, are sparse. Dyer and Manning (1999) recently
found from a laboratory study that low concentrations
promote flocculation. Berhane et al. (1996) presented
an analysis on flocculation behavior on the Amazon
Continental Shelf, where concentrations varied from
0.001 to 0.076 kg m3. They found a strong
correlation (r 2=0.94) between volume concentration
and the maximum aggregate diameter. In their photographic analysis, the smallest particles measurable
from the images were in the order of 125 Am and no
information was presented on the size distribution of
the primary particles.
Correlations between the mean concentration and
the bulk particle fall velocity may not merely be due
to flocculation. Winterwerp (1999) argues that such
correlations are spurious, as higher concentrations
generally occur at stronger currents, when larger
particles may be mobilized with larger fall velocities.
If only two sediment classes are involved, with
different threshold values for erosion and deposition,
the existence of an unambiguous relation between
mass concentration and fall velocity becomes implausible. Moreover, suchlike concept disregards the time
lag between change of hydrodynamic conditions and
the genesis or breakup of flocs and (10) may only be
valid in the case of an instantaneous adaptation of the

109

number of flocs that pertains to the occurring

concentration. Finally, the fact that an increase of
the concentration may be partially due to the
formation of aggregates contradicts the underlying
assumptions of the Stokes Law, which is valid for
spherical, massive particles. In particular, for larger
flocs, the fall velocity may be considerably smaller
than predicted by (11).

5. Comparison of ADCP and OBS estimates of

mass concentration
5.1. 20-day moorings
The correlations between exp(S v/25) and M
obtained from OBS measurements were significant
both for the 20-day mooring at Kubur (r 2=0.64) and
the one at Besar (r 2=0.83). The samples were
clustered in intervals of 0.5103 kg m3 and of
each cluster, the average and standard deviation were
calculated (Fig. 3). The regression lines through the
total of samples at Besar and Kubur agreed well and
confirmed the assumption of a linear relation between
exp(S v/25) and M. Fig. 3 shows also regression lines
for subsets of the data including samples from the
bottom or top meter of the observation range only. At
Kubur, both the bottom and near-surface samples had
a relatively weak acoustic response, yet with a higher
intercept. The regression lines of the bottom and nearsurface samples at Besar were virtually identical to the
one for the total of measurements. These results
suggest that there is no persisting depth variation in
the properties of sediments in suspension at Besar, at
least over the time span of observations. At Kubur,
dominant sediment properties may vary over depth to
some extent. A smaller slope indicates finer primary
particles to be prevalent in the sample, which seems
plausible for near-surface sediment in suspension, but
unlikely for near-bottom sediments. It should be noted
in this respect, that part of the differences in the slopes
of the regression lines at Kubur, as well as the smaller
correlation coefficient compared to Besar, is a direct
result of the narrow concentration range. Compared to
the horizontally averaged variation of M, the inevitable errors because the ADCP and OBS measurements were not taken exactly at the same place were
therefore relatively large.

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A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

Fig. 3. Calibration of the ADCP signal volume strength for the 20-day moorings at Besar and Kubur. The original measurements were clustered
in discrete intervals of 0.5103 kg m3, where the dots and bars indicate the mean values and standard deviations for each cluster, respectively.
The solid lines are a least-squares fits, regressed through the original measurements. The dashed and dash-dotted lines are least-squares fits,
regressed through the measurements from the top and bottom meter only, respectively.

Using the best-fit linear lines through the total of

samples at Besar and Kubur, Figs. 4 and 5 compare
the OBS and ADCP estimates of the depthmean
), the mass concentration
mass concentration (M
averaged over the bottom meter (M bot), and the
ADCP and M
OBS to environdifference between M
mental variables. As the wind and tide-driven flow in
the bay is largely bidirectional and along the bays
isobaths (Hoitink and Hoekstra, 2003), the flow
velocity was represented by the along-isobath flow
velocity, u. Floc-forming and -destroying mechanisms
are primarily governed by the dissipation parameter G
(Van Leussen, 1988), which reads:
r
e
G
14
m
Herein, e denotes the energy dissipation per unit mass
and time [J kg1 s1] and m is the kinematic viscosity
[m2 s1]. In turbulent flow, e relates to the eddy
viscosity (N z with unit m2 s1) and the velocity shear
as in (Lewis, 1997):
 2
du
e Nz
15
dz

Substitution of (15) in (14) results in:

G

r 
Nz  du 
m  dz 

16

For seawater, m has only a weak temperature dependence and is generally attributed a value of 1106
m2 s1. The eddy viscosity, however, depends on the
turbulence field in a complex manner. It increases
with an increase of velocity shear and declines with a
raising degree of density stratification. Consequently,
G not only depends on the absolute velocity shear but
also on the degree of density stratification. In Figs. 4
and 5, depth-mean values of du/dz are presented. As a
density stratification index, the buoyancy frequency
was calculated, which reads (Emery and Thomson,
2001):
s
g dq
N
q dz

17

The water masses in the bay are generally in between

well-mixed and continuously stratified. A representative value of dq/dz could therefore be obtained from

A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

111

Fig. 4. Time-series of ADCP () and OBS ( ) estimates of suspended mass concentration and environmental variables at Besar. From top to
), ADCP and OBS estimates of the average mass concentration in
bottom: ADCP and OBS estimates of the depth-mean mass concentration (M
, the buoyancy frequency (N), the depth-mean absolute
the bottom meter (M bot), the relative difference between ADCP and OBS estimates of M
velocity gradient (jdu/dzj), and the depth-mean flow velocity along the local isobath (u).

the slope of the best-fit linear line through scatter plots

of U versus z.
The time-series from the Besar mooring (Fig. 4)
exhibit a general agreement between the ADCP
and M bot with the corresponding
estimates of M
OBS estimates. The tidal flow at Besar induces

diurnal variation of the depth-averaged velocity shear

and daily events of resuspension and subsequent
settling of sediment. Values of |du/dz| generally
remain below a level for which turbulence is likely
to destroy flocs. This suggests that the proportionality between the acoustically normative particle

112

A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

Fig. 5. Time-series of ADCP () and OBS ( ) estimates of suspended mass concentration and environmental variables at Kubur. From top to
), ADCP and OBS estimates of the average mass concentration in
bottom: ADCP and OBS estimates of the depth-mean mass concentration (M
, the buoyancy frequency (N), the depth-mean absolute
the bottom meter (M bot), the relative difference between ADCP and OBS estimates of M
velocity gradient (jdu/dzj), and the depth-mean flow velocity along the local isobath (u).

may be due to flocculation during

radius a 2 and M
increasing flow velocities and differential settling of
flocs at the time of flow deceleration. However, if
the formation and destruction of flocs were the
dominant process that causes increase and decrease
of the acoustically normative grain size over the time

OBS
span of a day, respectively, a time lag between M
ADCP would have emerged from the data due
and M
to the inertia of the flocculation process. The level of
ADCP would then culminate after the peak in the
M
OBS
actual suspended mass concentration, whereas M
would peak simultaneously with the actual level of

A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

, irrespective of a possible reduction of the optical

M
backscatter response associated with flocculation.
Winterwerp (1999) postulates that the time-scale
for aggregation is inversely proportional to the
product of M and G. Although the constant of
proportionality needs to be assessed empirically, his
parameterizations suggest that due to the low
concentrations and low rates of energy dissipation,
the time-scales for aggregation, and breakup of flocs
in the Bay of Banten are in the order of days rather
than hours. Assuming sediment to enter the water
column near the bed as unpacked primary particles,
the time-scale of the erosion and subsequent
deposition events is thus too small to involve
aggregation and subsequent disaggregation. Therefore, covarying of suspended mass concentration
and the acoustically normative grain size will be
primarily due to a relative enrichment or depletion
of large or small primary particles in suspension
(respectively).
ADCP is
At the Kubur site, the relative error of M
substantially larger than at Besar. Currents are
weaker, and the degree of density stratification is
comparatively high, exhibiting a diurnal oscillation
superimposed on a weekly undulation (Fig. 5).
Despite the weak currents, the depth-mean absolute
velocity gradient is maintained at a steady level of
0.39 s1 on average, which is larger than for the case
of Besar, where the average amounted to 0.34 s1.
The steady suspended mass concentration sustained
by the vertical shear at Kubur may involve a
relatively long residence time of suspended particles
in the water column, allowing for aggregation and
disaggregation mechanisms to occur. These could
ADCP because flocexplain the larger error in M
forming and -destroying influences optical and
acoustic backscatter differently. Because the absolute
velocity gradient is relatively constant, imbalance
between floc forming and floc destroying may be
controlled by the alterations in the buoyancy
frequency. Synthesizing the results from the moorings at Besar and Kubur, it seems plausible that the
is primarily due to
proportionality between d 2 and M
a relative enrichment or depletion of large or small
primary particles in suspension, whereas aggregation
and disaggregation mechanisms are likely to introduce error in the ADCP estimates of the suspended
mass concentration.

113

5.2. 25-h anchor stations

The regression results from the 25-h anchor
stations demonstrate that both seasonal and spatial
differences in the relation between S v and M in the
embayment can be substantial (Fig. 6). The calibrations show that a linear relation between exp(S v/25)
and M is generally valid, but the slopes of the best-fit
linear lines may differ. Contrary to the regression lines
for the total of samples in Fig. 3, the intercepts in Fig.
6 are significant. Because a zero intercept is expected
from theory (Eq. (12)), this reveals the limitations of
the adopted approach. The positive intercepts can be
explained by the prevalence of air bubbles and
plankton in the water column, the latter of which
relate to the biological productivity in the bay. The
vertical extent of bubbles entrained by waves (l) was
analyzed by Thorpe (1986) who estimates l to be
within the range of 2.5 to 4 times the significant wave
height. Wave-induced air bubbles, therefore, did not
affect the acoustic response, as the significant wave
heights remained below 0.5 m and the distance
between the range of acoustic measurements and the
water surface exceeded 2 m at all time.
The sensitivity of acoustic and optical backscatter
to plankton depends highly on the species (Flagg and
Smith, 1989). There is a long cascade of plankton
concentration structures ranging from 1 to 100 km.
Phytoplankton are known to have distributions similar
to those of physical quantities, such as sea surface
temperature, whereas zooplankton populations have
marked a more fine scale structure (Massel, 1999). In
tropical shelf environments, plankton populations are
generally dominated by phytoplankton. Phytoplankton not only hinders acoustic measurements of SSC
but also affects the response of optical instruments
(Bunt, 1999). Walker (1981) postulated that the
concurrent resuspension of organic and inorganic
bottom particles and the associated temporal relationship between chlorophyll concentration and SSC is a
widespread feature of turbid coastal regions in the
tropics, which was confirmed by results of Wolanski
et al. (1981). Therefore, not only the intercepts but
also the slopes of the regression lines in Fig. 6 may be
affected by phytoplankton variation.
Despite the possible influence of organic scatterers,
large differences between the slopes in Fig. 6 may be
at least partially attributed to grain size variations. The

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A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

Fig. 6. Calibration of the ADCP signal volume strength for the shipboard 25-h measurements. The original measurements were clustered in
discrete intervals of 1103 kg m3, where the dots and bars indicate the mean values and standard deviations for each cluster, respectively. The
solid lines are least-squares fits, regressed through the original measurements.

influence of other properties of the marine sediments

than size such as density, relative compressibility and
roundness is expected to be subordinate. Taking the
regression results from Besar in April 1999 as a
reference, the slope of the regression line from Salira
in October 1998 is substantially larger, indicating
larger grain sizes. This is in accordance with what
may be expected from the fact that Salira is located in
an area of strong tidal currents in the order of 0.7 m
s1, which are forced to bypass the Gede Mountain
Complex (Fig. 1).
The regression line for the case of Besar in October
1998 agrees well with the regression line at the same

location in February 1999, but its slope is significantly

smaller than the slope corresponding to regression
from Besar in April 1999 (see Figs. 4 and 6). In
varied between 6 and 17103 kg
February 1999, M
3
m at Besar, largely in response to variation of the
depth-mean flow velocity u. As u remained in
between 10 and 20 cm s1, currents were not
from the
exceptionally strong and the values of M
OBS were notably high. The proportionality between
u and exp(S v/25), however, was approximately the
same as for the mooring in April 1999. Similarly, the
range of M at Kubur in October 1998 is notably large
(110103 kg m3) when compared to the range of

A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

observed mass concentrations during the 3 weeks of

measurement in March 1999 (16103 kg m3), in
absence of an anomalous flow event. Again, this
discrepancy was not observed in the ADCP backscatter, resulting in a relatively gentle slope of the
regression line between M and exp(S v/25) for the case
of Kubur in October 1998. The ADCP backscatter
indicate the high mass concentrations of suspended
sediment to contain an ample amount of relatively
fine-grained material, which is comparatively easily
resuspended by the tidal flow. Therefore, the total
amount of suspended mass that the flow is able to
carry is larger if the sediments available for resuspension are smaller.
The comparatively weak acoustic response to SSC
variation at Kubur in October 1998 indicates that by
the end of the dry season relatively large particles are in
suspension, which may relate to seasonal differences in
throughflow conditions. In the dry season, a westward
throughflow in the bay conveys fine sediments derived
from the eroding eastern shoreline and from the
adjacent rivers (Hoitink and Hoekstra, 2003). During
the wet season, the tidal motion and the eastward
throughflow wash out those fine sediments at least
partially, causing average particle sizes to become
coarser and the acoustic response of the sediments in
suspension to become stronger. The regression lines
for Utara (Fig. 6) did not feature such a clear seasonal
dependence, which suggests that the composition of
the suspended sediments vary little throughout the year
at this location. When comparing the regression lines
for Besar (Figs. 3 and 6), the regression corresponding
to the end of the wet season (April 1999) shows a
relatively strong acoustic response. Compared with
Kubur, changes in particle size distribution at Besar
presumably relate more directly to erosion events at
the nearby eastern shoreline and to discharges from
the small rivers (cf. Hoitink and Hoekstra, 2003). The
ranges of SSC that occurred in March 1998 at Salira
and in February 1999 at Selat were too narrow to
establish seasonal variation in suspended sediment size
distributions at those two locations.

6. Discussion
The present study has provided insight into the
potential of ADCP backscatter for the measurement of

115

SSC and for the detection of qualitative grain size

variation, in combination with OBS measurements.
The general validity of a linear relation between M OBS
and exp(S v/25) demonstrates that the ADCP backscatter can be converted to a valuable measure of
SSC. Lynch et al. (1991) showed that a 1-MHz
acoustic backscatter system was sufficiently sensitive
to measure deep-sea sediment transport events,
characterized by particle sizes between 1 and 100
Am and SSCs roughly in the range between 0.1 and 4
mg l1. The present analysis shows that a 1.2-MHz
ADCP can be used in combination with an OBS
sensor to analyze events of erosion/deposition in a
tropical coastal embayment with SSCs ranging
between 1 and 20 mg l1. These SSCs can be
considered low from a general perspective, but they
are high for a region where coral reefs are prevalent
(cf. Larcombe et al., 1995; Fabricius and Wolanski,
2000). ADCP transects and time-series may yield
high-resolution information on the coherence between
flow and SSC patterns around coral reefs.
Holdaway et al. (1999) argue that variation in
suspended sediment sizes is the primary reason for
differences between SSC estimates derived from
ADCP and transmissometer measurements. In the
present work, two additional drawbacks were put
forward that complicates the adequate interpretation
of ADCP backscatter. In the first place, the formation
and destruction of flocs in a sediment suspension of
constant mass may result in an increase and decrease
of the acoustic backscatter (respectively), due to the
expected change of the acoustically normative grain
size. In this respect, the time-scales involved in the
aggregation and disaggregation mechanisms are of
interest, which increase for decreasing SSC or particle
size. In areas with low levels of SSC and fine
particles, the time-scales of aggregation may exceed
the duration of events of erosion and subsequent
deposition by an order of magnitude. In that case, the
error introduced by the aggregation and disaggregation mechanisms may be detectable.
The use of ADCP backscatter for the measurement
of SSC is further complicated by the prevalence of
anomalous scatterers in the water column, of which
phytoplankton species are likely dominant. The
positive intercepts as observed in the linear relations
between exp(S v/25) and M suggest that organic
scatterers, being generally insignificant by mass,

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A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

may cause a relatively strong acoustic gain. The

abundance of organic particles such as phytoplankton
in a marine environment depends on the biological
productivity, which is particularly high in tropical
nearshore areas.
With respect to the calibration procedure, the OBS
measurements or water samples never represent
exactly the same unit volume at exactly the same
point in time as the corresponding ADCP signal
volume strengths. This problem can be overcome by
excluding measurements made during unfavorable
conditions characterized by a large spatial variability
of SSC, which can be detected by comparing the
independent backscatter levels from the four beams.
In the present analysis, measurements for which the
maximum difference in backscatter gain exceeded 2
dB were discarded for this reason, which resulted in a
removal of only short intervals of data. The consistency of the acoustical SSC estimates may also be
determined from an analysis of the backscatter
frequency distributions.
In light of the foregoing study, the adequate
interpretation of backscatter frequency distributions
requires information on the acoustic response of the
total of scatterers in the water column, including flocs
and plankton. Measurement of the size of mud flocs
without disturbing the fragile aggregates is possible
using an underwater video system, such as the Video
In Situ (VIS) system developed by Rijkswaterstaat
and Delft Hydraulics (Van Leussen and Cornelisse,
1993; van der Lee, 2000). An in situ calibration
experiment focused on the acoustic response of mud
flocs and organic particles would offer further insights
into the limitation of the use of the ADCP backscatter
as a turbidity measure.

7. Conclusions
An investigation has been conducted into the use
of a 1.2-MHz ADCP for the measurement of mudtype suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) in the
Bay of Banten, a small embayment located in West
Java, Indonesia. A review of acoustic theory highlighted that fine-grained particles for which kab1, in
which k is the acoustic wave number and a is the
acoustically normative particle radius, the backscatter
relates to a 3M, where M is suspended mass concen-

tration. In the Bay of Banten, this condition was

generally met, as the bottom sediments were found to
range between 3 and 50 Am, corresponding with ka
values between 0.01 and 0.14. Concurrent measurements of a 1.2-MHz ADCP and an in situ-calibrated
OBS sensor were used to analyze suspended sediment
dynamics at five locations in the Bay of Banten.
Increase and decrease of the suspended mass
concentration were primarily governed by local events
of erosion and subsequent deposition, which was
established from the OBS measurements. The added
value from the simultaneous ADCP measurements
was threefold. First, erosion and subsequent deposition within a tidal cycle involved an enrichment and
subsequent depletion of relatively large grains in
suspension. This was inferred from the fact that M
was proportional to a 2 over the time-span of a
particular deployment. Using this relation, the ADCP
backscatter could be converted to an estimate of M.
Second, the ADCP measurements provided an
explanation for differences in the SSC response,
established from OBS readings, to tidal current
variation. The SSC response to current variation was
found to be stronger if the particle sizes in suspension
were smaller, indicating that the flow is able to carry a
larger total sediment mass if the particles in suspension are smaller.
Third, the differences between calibration lines
provided qualitative information on spatial and
seasonal particle size differences. The most evident
conclusions in this respect applied to the sites Salira
and Kubur. At Salira, the acoustic response to SSC
variation was found to be exceptionally strong,
indicating relatively large, suspended particle sizes.
This was explained by the fact that Salira is located in
an area of strong tidal currents. At Kubur, a
comparatively weak acoustic response to SSC by the
end of the dry season indicated relatively large,
suspended particles at that time. This was related to
seasonal differences in throughflow conditions that
govern the dispersion of sediments derived from small
rivers and from an eroding coastline.
Although pronounced differences in the relation
between acoustic backscatter and suspended mass
concentration may be attributed to particle size
variation, there is a largely unknown influence of
organic particles and flocculation. Organic scatterers
are generally insignificant by mass, but may have a

A.J.F. Hoitink, P. Hoekstra / Coastal Engineering 52 (2005) 103118

relatively strong acoustic response. Flocs can be

formed from primary particles if they are long enough
in suspension. The flocs, or aggregates, presumably
have an acoustic response that relates to their sizes.
ADCP estimates of SSC at a dynamical site characterized by diurnal events of resuspension and subsequent deposition contained less error than at a site
where SSC levels were relatively steady. Supposed
that the steady conditions promote floc formation, this
indicates that flocs hinder the accurate measurement
of the suspended mass concentration using acoustics.

Acknowledgments
The Teluk Banten Research Program is part of the
Global Change Program of the Royal Netherlands
Academy of Sciences (KNAW). It is cofunded and
coordinated by the Foundation for the Advancement
of Tropical Research (WOTRO). Dr. G.D. van den
Bergh, W. Boer, and Prof. Tj.C.E. van Weering from
the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research are
acknowledged for providing the particle size information and the OBS calibration. The authors wish to
thank M.C.G. van Maarseveen (Utrecht University)
and J.W. Mol (Aqua Vision) for discussing the
acoustic theory. Prof. S.R. Massel and an anonymous
reviewer are acknowledged for reviewing the draft of
this paper.
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