• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1203-1211
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• 2010

In order to study geology and sediment characteristics in Danghang Bay area, surface geological survey, SBP (sub-bottom profiler) survey, and sediment analysis were conducted. Danghang Bay area has a closing coast surrounded by land, and surface layer are covered by mud and sandy mud. Sedimentary facies of the surface layer consists of Mm and Mms facies. A SBP seismic survey shows that gas bearing sediments might be spread throughout the sediment layers, so that it seems to be hard to find acoustic basement and gas seeps are easily found throughout the survey lines. The gas trapped in the sediments may be related to the high organic contents of the sediment, and the thick mud layer may restrain the gas from releasing.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 2005

This paper describes the mean grain size and shear strength properties related to subsidence characteristics using sediment samples and acoustic images obtained from artificial reef areas in Tongyoung and Jangsungpo offshore. The acoustic images collected from chirp sonar and side scan sonar show well the attitude/orientation, the distribution pattern, and the degree of subsidence of artificial reefs, suggesting the possibility of suitable site investigation and the management of the reefs using acoustic sonar. The sediments were largely composed of clayey silt and silty clay. The mean grain sizes in Tongyoung and Jangsungpo offshore show the ranges of 5${\sim}$9${\Phi}$ and 8${\sim}$9${\Phi}$, respectively. The shear strength was significantly increased at the depths of 20cm in Tongyoung offshore and 80cm in Jangsungpo offshore, corresponding to the subsidence depth of artificial reefs. The relationship between mean grain size and shear strength did not show a correlation, suggesting the shear strength does not totally depend on mean grain size. Provided subsidence characteristics with respect to various artificial reefs and seabed condition are investigated in more details, the constructing area of the reef can be more extended.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 2008

Compressional sound velocities of shelf sediments in the South Sea of Korea, were measured in situ and in the laboratory for six cores. In situ sound velocity was measured using the Acoustic Lance (frequency of 7.5-15 kHz), while laboratory velocity was measured by the pulse transmission technique (frequency of 1MHz). Physical properties were relatively uniform with sediment depth, suggesting little effect of sediment compaction and/or consolidation. Average in situ velocity at each core site ranged from 1,457 to 1,488 m/s, which was less than the laboratory velocity of 1,503 and 1,604m/s. In muddy sediments the laboratory velocity was 39-47 m/s higher than in situ velocity. In sandy sediments, the difference was greater by an average of 116 m/s. Although the velocity data were corrected by the velocity ratio method based on bottom water temperature, the laboratory velocity was still higher than the in situ velocity (11-21 m/s in muddy sediments and 91 m/s in sandy sediments). This discrepancy may be caused by sediment disturbance during core collection and/or by the pressure of Acoustic Lance insertion, but it was most likely due to the frequency difference between in situ and laboratory measurement systems. Thus, when correcting laboratory velocity to in situ velocity, it is important to consider both temperature and frequency.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.43-57
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• 2022

Advances in measurement techniques have reduced measurement costs and enhanced safety resulting in less uncertainty. For example, an acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) based suspended sediment concentration (SSC) measurement technique is being accepted as an alternative to the conventional data collection method. In Korean rivers, horizontal ADCPs (H-ADCPs) are mounted on the automatic discharge monitoring stations, where SSC can be measured using the backscatter of ADCPs. However, automatic discharge monitoring stations and sediment monitoring stations do not always coincide which hinders the application of the new techniques that are not feasible to some stations. This work presents and analyzes H-ADCP-SSC models for 9 discharge monitoring stations in Korean rivers. In application of the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to sediment-related variables (catchment area, particle size distributions of suspended sediment and bed material, water discharge-sediment discharge curves) from 44 sediment monitoring stations, it is revealed that those characteristics can distinguish sediment monitoring stations regionally. Linking the two results, we propose a protocol determining the H-ADCP-SSC model where no H-ADCP-SSC model is available.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.273-281
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• 2002

Determination of sediment type is generally based on ground truthing. This method, however, provides information only for the limited sites. Recent developments of remote classification of seafloor sediments made it possible to obtain continuous profiles of sediment types. QTC View system, which is an acoustic instrument providing digital real-time seabed classification, was used to classify seafloor sediment types in the Suyoung Bay, Pusan. QTC View was connected to 50 kHz echo sounder, All parameters of QTC View and echo sounder are uniformly kept during survey. By ground truthing, the sediments are classified into seven types, such as slightly gravelly sand, slightly gravelly sandy mud, gravelly muddy sand, clayey sand, sandy mud, slightly gravelly muddy sand, and rocky bottom. By the first remote classification using QTC View, four sediment types are clearly identified, such as slightly gravelly sand, gravelly mud, slightly gravelly muddy sand, and rocky bottom. These are similar to the result of the second survey. Also the result of remote classification matches well with that of ground truthing, but for sediment type determined by minor component. Therefore, QTC View can effectively be used for remote classification of seafloor sediments.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.39-49
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• 2019

Acoustics are increasingly regarded as a remote-sensing tool that provides the basis for classifying and mapping ocean resources including seabed classification. It has long been understood that details about the character of the seabed (roughness, sediment type, grain-size distribution, porosity, and material density) are embedded in the acoustical echoes from the seabed. This study developed a sophisticated yet easy-to-use technique to discriminate seabed characteristics using a split beam echosounder. Acoustic survey was conducted in Tongyeong waters, South Korea in June 2018, and the verification of acoustic seabed classification was made by the Van Veen grab sampler. The acoustic scattering signals extracted the seabed hardness and roughness components as well as various seabed features. The seabed features were selected using the principal component analysis, and the seabed classification was performed by the K-means clustering. As a result, three seabed types such as sand, mud, and shell were discriminated. This preliminary study presented feasible application of a sounder to classify the seabed substrates. It can be further developed for characterizing marine habitats on a variety of spatial scales and studying the ecological characteristic of fishes near the habitats.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.411-422
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• 2015

This paper presents an overview of the geological environment investigation and underwater acoustic measurements for the purpose of "Study on the Relationship between the Geological Environment and Acoustic Propagation in Shallow Water", which are jointly carried out by KIOST (Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology) and Hanyang University in the western shallow water off the Taean peninsula in the Yellow Sea in April-May 2013. The experimental site was made up of various sediment types and bedforms due to the strong tidal currents and coastal geomorphological characteristics. The geological characteristics of the study area were intensively investigated using multi-beam echo sounder, sub-bottom profiler, sparker system and grab sampler. Acoustic measurements with a wide range of research topics in a frequency range of 20~16,000 Hz: 1) low frequency sound propagation, 2) mid-frequency bottom loss, 3) spatial coherence analysis of ambient noise, and 4) mid- frequency bottom backscattering were performed using low- and mid-frequency sound sources and vertical line array. This paper summarizes the topics that motivated the experiment, methodologies of the acoustic measurements, and acoustic data analysis based on the measured geological characteristics, and describes summary results of the geological, meteorological, and oceanographic conditions found during the experiments.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.2E
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• pp.76-82
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• 1994

The characteristics of bottom sediment may be able to vary within a few meters of depth in shallow water. Since bottom attenuation coefficient as well as sound velocity in the bottom layer is determined by the composition and characteristics of sediment itself, it is reasonable to assume that the bottom attenuation coefficient is accordingly variable with depth. In this study, we use a parabolic equation scheme to examine the effects of depth-varying compressional wave attenuation on acoustic wave propagation in the low frequency ranging from 100 to 805 Hz. The sea floor under consideration is sandy bottom where the water and the sediment depths are 40 meters and 10 meters, respectively. Depending on the assumption that attenuation coefficient is constant or depth-varying, the propagation loss difference is as large as 10dB within 15 km. The predicted propagation loss is very much comparable to the measured one when we employ a depth-varying attenuation coefficient.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2014

Coastal water including estuaries has distinctive environmental characteristics where sediments are transported and deposited by flowing river water, providing an environment in which fluid mud layers can be formed. Acoustic method is mostly used to detect or monitor the fluid mud layer. However, since sound propagating in this layer suffers severe attenuation, it is important to estimate the accurate attenuation coefficient for various concentrations of fluid mud layer for the successful use of the acoustic method. In this paper, measurement results of attenuation coefficient for 3.5, 5, and 7.5 MHz ultrasounds were presented. The measurements were made in a small-size water tank in which suspended sediment samples with various sediment concentrations were formed using kaolinite powder. The results were compared to the model predictions obtained by attenuation coefficient model in which the mean grain size (called as Mass-median-diameter, D50) was used as input parameter. There were reasonable agreements between measured attenuation coefficients and model outputs predicted using the particle range of D50 ${\pm}20%$. The comparison results imply that although the suspended sediments consist of various-sized particles, sound attenuation might be greatly influenced by amount of particle with a size which has a larger attenuation than that of any particle in the suspended sediments for the frequency used.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.78-87
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• 2003

High-frequency (126-㎑) bottom backscattering measurements with various bottom types were conducted at the water tank in Ocean Acoustic Laboratory, Hanyang University. For the purpose of investigating the energy distribution of bottom scattering with various bottom types, the sediment was varied with gravel, sand, sandy mud and mixed bottoms. To examine the anisotropic nature of the scattering due to the orientations of bottom ripple, the footprints were made transverse and longitudinal to the direction of incident wave. The total scattering characteristics are that the larger grazing angles the larger backscattering strengths become and backscattering strengths for a transverse ripple case are higher than those of longitudinal ripple case. finally, the variations of scattering strength depend mainly on the ripple's orientation.