Oceanic Wastewater Outfall Plume Characteristics Measured Acoustically

A study, called SEFLOE, of the dispersion characteristics of several wastewater outfalls was conducted off of the coast of Southeast Florida (USA). in this study, the feasibility of utilizing high frequency (20kHz and 200kHz) acoustic echoes to characterize the dilution characteristics of the effluent wastewater was examined. It is hypothesized that the background corrected acoustic backscattered intensity may be used to guide chemical/biological sampling, and that one or more plume subfields may be revealed by the scattering strength field. Data from SEAFLOE have indicated that the wastewater plume field is divided into regions of higher concentration spatially separated by regions of lower concentration; we call these regions of higher concentration “boluses”. When the water column is density stratified, subsurface plumes may peel off of the main rising plume and remain at equilibrium on a density gradient.