Sound scattering from oceanic turbulence - Chaos or critters?

Despite relatively long-standing theoretical models§for sound scattering from oceanic turbulence, many§oceanographers continue to deny its existence.§Following my dissertation work, it can no longer be§denied. Herein is the first data that unambiguously§correlates strong acoustic scatter with turbulent§temperature fluctuations in the ocean. An important§consequence of this work is that, at least under some§circumstances, it is possible to invert acoustic data§to measure turbulent dissipation rates a first step§to remotely sensing turbulent mixing. Another§consequence of this is that turbulent scatter can be§strong enough that acoustic surveys done in turbulent§areas (such as the biologically productive ocean§surface mixing layer) could be overestimating§plankton stocks by as much as an order of magnitude.§In spite of the potential for confounding the§scattering from turbulence with that from§zooplankton, zooplankton and turbulence can be§observed simultaneously with a single sounder. The§different natures of the two targets, discrete animal§targets versus volume scattering for turbulence,§allow them to be distinguished. The key is sampling§the same targets at multiple ranges.