Comprehend Analysis of Surface and Subsurface Sediment Distribution Using Underwater Acoustic Instruments

Abstract Ports play an important role in shipping and transporting while its fundamental challenge is sedimentation that occurs continuously at a location. A management system is required to respond to this siltation problem by dredging the underwater sediments parallel with Sustainable Development Goal 11 about sustainable cities and communities. Therefore, analyzing the area’s sediment types and distribution is necessary, especially using acoustic instruments. In this research, the dredging plan shows the relative depth distribution is around 4 to 18 meters with deep sloping topography on the north side. Furthermore, the overall result of the backscatter value of the multibeam echosounder ranges from −45.86 dB to −55.73 dB. According to the Angular Response Analysis, the sediment type of the seabed surface is clay with depths ranging up to 5.40 meters. The result of the sub-bottom profiler processing discovers step or bowl-like features where the curvature seems to have an unequal height. It considers the difference in sediment height around the area while the intensity is relatively low. Through acoustic processing analysis, it informs that the total area of 643872 m 2 needs to be dredged with an estimated dredging volume of around 2181105 m 3 both in surface and subsurface areas. The qualitative analysis of Multibeam Echosounder, and Sub Bottom Profiler data shows that the acoustic instrument’s products are accurate with validation data in the field.