Acoustic scattering in the coastal ocean at Monterey Bay, CA, USA: Fine-scale vertical structures

Fine-structure (centimeters to meters) in vertical profiles of acoustic volume scattering strength is a common and ecologically significant characteristic of the coastal marine water column. The processes that create these structures modify the availability of food and exposure to predation for secondary producers at and below spatial and temporal scales that characterize their daily ambits. Thin acoustic scattering layers may persist for weeks at a particular coastal location, but they may also appear and disappear in only a few hours. These layers are usually evidence of mesozooplankton and micronekton having aggregated at peaks, gradients, or boundaries in the vertical distribution of various water column properties that characterize a marine ecosystem. The behaviors of both predators and prey are implicated in the generation of complex, time-dependent patterns of fine-structure. Specifically, diel vertical migration to layers of prey, isolumes, isotherms, isopycnals, or chemoclines can be responsible for the nighttime formation of thin acoustic layers. Physical processes such as horizontal shear, internal waves, water mass intrusions, tidal forcing, wind mixing of the upper water column, and horizontal advection modify acoustic scattering patterns by changing the vertical distributions of organisms that scatter sound.