Acoustic properties of sediment particles from water samples in large rivers: A comparison in the light of ADCP recordings application for suspended-load estimation

The use of echo levels from ADCP recordings for estimating suspended-load in rivers has become more and more widespread over the last decades. Empirical, semi-empirical and physical-based acoustic methods have been applied in different case studies in the field, which provided good relations between suspended particles from samples and the corresponding acoustic properties (i.e., the acoustic backscatter and sound attenuation). These methods also entail different assumptions regarding the suspended sediment pattern along the investigated profile. Our work was to compare two large rivers of the world with the objective of advising on the actual possibility of using certain methods and ADCP deployments depending on the expected acoustic properties of the investigated sediment.