Concurrent Echosounder and ADCP Measurements at an Australian Tidal Energy Site, 2018-2019

Approximately 2.5 months of concurrent acoustic measurements from December 2018 to February 2019 investigate fish aggregations in tidal currents. The dataset includes high-resolution current velocity and direction from an ADCP and volume backscattering strength from a four-frequency echosounder (AZFP) deployed in the Banks Strait, Tasmania. Fish aggregation metrics were derived in post-processing along with environmental conditions like current shear and tidal stage.

Use Cases

• Modeling fish-current interactions based on concurrent ADCP and echosounder measurements.
• Assessing potential environmental impacts of tidal turbines based on fish aggregation metrics and tidal stage data.
• Developing baseline ecological models for tidal energy sites using time-series data on biomass indicators and current speed.
• Analyzing diel and tidal influences on marine life aggregations based on compiled environmental condition data.

Strengths

• Concurrent sampling of physical and biological parameters for approximately 2.5 months provides a cohesive temporal view.
• High-resolution ADCP data with 1-second time intervals and 1-meter vertical resolution.
• Raw AZFP data has a fine vertical resolution of 0.072 meters, offering detailed backscatter profiles.
• Post-processed fish aggregation metrics are provided alongside compiled environmental conditions like shear and temperature.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to a single site and season.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via data_gov_au

Collection Method

Data collected from a bottom-mounted mooring with an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and an Acoustic Zooplankton and Fish Profiler (AZFP).

Time Range

December 2018 to February 2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-13 10:53:23.505653; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Banks Strait, northeast of Tasmania, Australia