On observing acoustic backscattering from salinity turbulence

It has been hypothesized that at sufficiently high levels of oceanic salinity turbulence it should be possible to observe acoustic backscattering. However, there have been limited in situ measurements to confirm this hypothesis. Using an autonomous underwater vehicle equipped with upward and downward looking 1.2 MHz acoustic Doppler current profilers and with turbulence and fine scale sensors, measurements were performed in a region of intense turbulence and a strong salinity gradient. The approach taken was to correlate variations in the backscattered acoustic intensity, I, with a theoretical acoustic backscattering cross section per volume for salinity turbulence, σ(s), to obtain an estimated scattering cross section per volume, σ(e). Results indicated that of order 50% of the observed region was characterized by salinity turbulence induced backscattering.