Scientific Software For Analysis of Hydroacoustic Data
Specially written software is available for analysis of hydroacoustic data for assessment of underwater physical and biological characteristics. "Fish" here can apply to any "target" in the water column, e.g., fish, plankton, squid, mammal. All results can be imported into a GIS for additional analysis, correlation with other variables, mapping, and display.
- Bathymetry
- the depth (range) of the bottom of the river, lake, or ocean below the transducer.
- Range
- the distance between the transducer and the "target" (fish, zooplankton, vegetation, bottom). This is determined by precise timing from sound generation to sound reception (by the transducer).
- Bottom type; Seabed type; Substrate type; or Sediment type
- can be assessed and classified (e.g., sand, rock, soft mud, hard mud).
- Fish quantity
- can be estimated and reported as numbers of fish or biomass.
- Fish size
- can be determined in a relative manner, based on acoustic "target size".
- Fish behavior
- can be assessed through a combination of instantaneous and temporal measures and observations. Spatial distribution, size distributions, diurnal activity, predator-prey relationships, migration rates, temporal activity, etc. can be observed and quantified.
- Submersed aquatic vegetation; Submerged aquatic vegetation; or SAV
- can be detected and assessed for location, density, and height.
- Fish passage
- can be quantified for fish movement past a fixed-location hydroacoustic monitoring system. Examples include: Migrating salmon or fish entrained by water intakes.
Data collected with a scientific echosounder can be analyzed for the presence, abundance, distribution and acoustic characteristics of such variables as: depth (bathymetry), bottom substrate class (e.g., sand, mud, rock), submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV), and water column scattering (fish and plankton). Resulting analysis can be used to generate GIS data layers for these variables.
Read more about this topic: Digital Scientific Echosounder
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