Influence of microphytobenthos photosynthesis on the spectral characteristics of the signal reflected from Baltic sandy sediments

The use of hydracoustical techniques to classify benthic fauna and flora is one of the important challenges in present marine research. It is crucial to understand the microphytobenthos photosynthesis impact on the backscattering properties of the sea floor in the Baltic Sea, where the techniques are actively developed now. This motivated our study. The data used in the analysis was collected in the multiday laboratory experiment conducted in the frame of the grant of the National Science Centre, Poland (No. N306 773940). In this experiment, during changing light conditions (light/dark photocycles), the hydroacoustical backscattering data was acquired in the aquarium with a sandy bottom. The constant temperature and salinity conditions, typical for the Southern Baltic, were kept, and oxygen content was monitored. In this paper data collected at 280 kHz, was processed. It was studied how the energy of echo and power spectral density of the echo signal, are sensitive to the microphytobenthos photosynthesis.