Plumes resulting from the dumping of sewage sludge in the New York Bight are characterized in terms of mass concentration, salinity, coagulated particle size and acoustic backscattering. The plumes were found to exist near the surface of the water column with a low salinity/conductivity plume remaining near the surface, while the solids of the plume descended at rates near 0. 08 cm s** minus **1. Dumped sewage sludge removal rates showed near second-order dependency on mass concentration.