An integrated approach to study Mud Banks of Alleppey Kerala using the Autonomous Vertical Profiler (AVP)

Mud Banks of Kerala are areas of the sea adjoining the coast that have a special property of dampening the waves and creating clearly demarcated areas of calm water during the roughest monsoon conditions of the sea. It is believed that these areas have a muddy bottom and suspended muddy sediments in the water column. The mere existence of mud in an area is not enough to form mud banks. However the mud of the right texture needs to get consolidated at the right depth where wave action could churn it up into a thick suspension (Gopinathan, C. K. et al. 1974). The mud banks are of socio-economic importance for the fisheries industry.