Detecting, mapping, sampling, and analyzing oceanic suspended particulate matter: Methods complementary to acoustic detection of environmentally sensitive ocean outfall and dumped materials

Natural systems such as lakes, rivers, and oceans can be described by dissolved and particulate components. Particulate sources in coastal oceanic environments include natural materials from seaward riverine and estuarine flows and anthropogenic sources such as ocean dumping and outfalls. Plumes of suspended particulate matter (SPM) can be natural (lithogenic and biogenic), anthropogenic, and any mixture of these. Because SPM can range from environmentally neutral (i.e., lithogenic and biogenic) to hazardous (heavy metals, bacteria,...), detecting, tracking, sampling, and sourcing SPM plumes can be beneficial for the environment and human health. Acoustic methods have proven successful in detecting and mapping oceanic SPM over large spatial areas but are limited in resolving internal fine structure, estimating relative contributions of merged plumes from various sources (e.g., river outflow versus dumping), and differentiating between introduced and in situ SPM. To complement acoustics, CTD/optical/water ...