A. A. Lunkov

Focusing of low-frequency sound fields in shallow water

A numerical experiment is carried out to study the focusing of a low-frequency (100–300 Hz) sound field in a shallow-water acoustic waveguide typical of an oceanic shelf. Focusing with the use of time reversal of broadband acoustic signals, which is called time reversal mirror (TRM) of waves, is considered along with focusing by phase conjugation (PC) of a monochromatic sound field. It is demonstrated that, in the case of focusing by the TRM method in the waveguide of interest, it is sufficient to have a single source-receiving element. The use of a vertical array improves the quality of focusing. The quality achieved in the latter case proves to be approximately the same as that achieved in the case of focusing by phase conjugation of a monochromatic field at a frequency identical to the carrier frequency of the broadband signals. It is also shown that, in a range-independent waveguide, intense surface waves considerably reduce the quality of focusing. This effect is most pronounced in the case of using phase conjugation.

The coherence of low-frequency sound in shallow water in the presence of internal waves

The coherence time and transverse coherence length of a low-frequency (100–300 Hz) sound field that is formed by an omnidirectional point source at a distance of 10–30 km in a shallow-water acoustic waveguide, which is characteristic of an open ocean shelf, were estimated analytically and in a numerical experiment. An anisotropic field of background internal waves is considered as a source of spatiotemporal fluctuations. It is shown that the coherence time decreases as the frequency increases, and strongly depends on the perturbation-movement direction. The transverse coherence length is primarily determined by phase incursions that are related to the cylindrical shape of the acoustic-wave front. In the case of transverse propagation, background internal waves may lead to significant variations in this length. The introduction of compensating phase corrections during processing provides a considerable increase in the average transverse coherence length.

Effect of random hydrodynamic inhomogeneities on low frequency sound propagation loss in shallow water

Low frequency (100–500 Hz) sound propagation loss on the US Atlantic continental shelf and in the Barents Sea in the presence of stochastic surface waves, and for the US Atlantic shelf also in the presence of internal waves, is studied for the range of up to 150 km by means of numerical simulations. Qualitative difference between sound propagation loss behavior on the US Atlantic shelf and in the Barents Sea is demonstrated for summertime conditions even without random inhomogeneities. It is shown that whereas internal waves have a weak effect on propagation loss, surface waves result in its considerable increase in both areas under wintertime conditions with a wind speed of more than 9 m/s.

Modeling the effects of linear shallow-water internal waves on horizontal array coherence

The coherence length of a horizontal array is the maximum separation between two points where coherent processing gives useful gain when a distant source is at broadside. In shallow water, the coherence length is limited by the environmental variability caused by several relevant oceanographic processes. In the present study, a statistical model is developed that quantifies how one oceanographic process, linear internal waves, affects the coherence length. A key input to the ocean sub-model is the vertically integrated energy density of the internal wave field. The acoustic sub-model is based on the adiabatic normal mode approximation and so should be reasonable for frequencies under 1 kHz. Numerical calculations using environmental data from the Shallow Water 2006 Experiment (SW06) show how the coherence length of individual modes varies with consequent effects on array coherence. The coherence length is shown to be a strong function of where the source and array are positioned in the water column. For a bottom-mounted array above a moderately lossy seabed, the model predicts a coherence length that depends only weakly on range, an effect observed in field experiments.

Interference structure of low-frequency reverberation signals in shallow water

Using numerical simulation, an analysis was conducted of the interference structure of a bottomscattered sound field generated by a wideband point source in shallow water under winter and summer conditions. The scattered signals were received from the place where the source was located and were subjected to Fourier transform with a sliding window. The paper demonstrates the possibility of estimating the waveguide invariant for backscattered signals when processing the sound intensity distributions in wide frequency and distance ranges up to the scattering area. A technique is proposed for reconstructing the twodimensional field of internal waves using variations of the interference pattern of reverberation signals. The influence of wind surface waves on the degree of interference band contrast is illustrated.

Frequency shifts of the sound field interference pattern in shallow water because of second-mode soliton-like internal waves

Numerical simulation is carried out to analyze the effect of an internal soliton of the second gravity mode on low-frequency sound propagation in an oceanic shelf region. The simulation is performed using the data of a full-scale experiment performed on the shelf of the South China Sea near Dongsha atoll, where the aforementioned solitons had been detected by stationary vertical thermistor arrays. The calculations take into account the effect of horizontal refraction of sound waves. It is assumed that a stationary acoustic track is oriented across the predominant propagation direction of internal waves. The results of simulation show that, when the soliton crosses the stationary track, some of the sound field modes are focused, whereas other modes are defocused. It is demonstrated that the soliton parameters can be adequately determined from the frequency shifts of the sound field interference pattern. However, such an estimate of the soliton parameters is only possible for a limited length of the stationary track for which the effect of horizontal refraction is sufficiently weak.

Stability of sound field focusing on the oceanic shelf in the presence of background internal waves

A numerical experiment is carried out to estimate the stability of the focal spot formed by the time reversal mirror with the use of a single transmitting-receiving element in shallow water at a range of 10 km from the focusing system. The decrease in the focusing quality with time is attributed to the presence of intense background internal waves, which cause random vertical displacements of water. Displacements are simulated using the averaged energy spectrum of vertical thermocline oscillations arising in the internal wave field, these data being taken from an experiment on an open shelf. The calculations are based on the mode description of the sound field. It is shown that, in the presence of typical internal waves, the focal spot retains its parameters within approximately 1 h under the condition that the signal transmitted by the focusing system is invariable. Algorithms of increasing the stability of focusing by adaptive signal processing in the time reversal are proposed.

Sound attenuation on an ocean shelf at short ranges from a source in the presence of surface waves

The effect of surface roughness on the attenuation of low-frequency acoustic waves on a shallow ocean shelf is analyzed using numerical simulation. We focus here on transmission loss during propagation at short (less than 50 water layer depths) ranges from the sound source. The effect is considered both for a soft and hard bottom, when the sound velocity in the bottom is, respectively, lower or higher than the sound velocity in seawater. It is shown that to correctly predict losses at a short range in the presence of a rough upper boundary, it is necessary to take into account the interaction of both propagation and leaky modes. In the case of a hard bottom compared to a low-velocity one, the effect of surface roughness on propagation turned out to be the most pronounced.

Estimating the effective sound speed in the bottom in shallow water areas

Techniques are proposed for estimating the effective sound speed in sediments in shallow water areas with a soft bottom. The techniques are oriented toward determining this physical quantity for relatively small range intervals on the order of ten depths. The estimates are based on comparison of the experimental results and calculations of the characteristics of low-frequency sound fields propagating in these water areas. It is proposed to find this sound speed quantity by calculating its value for which the best agreement between experiment and calculation occurs. We present the results of testing the proposed techniques in experiments in the Klyaz’ma reservoir.

Surface reverberation at sound field focusing in shallow water

A numerical experiment is carried out to study the long-range surface reverberation in the presence of intense surface waves for the case of using vertical transmitting arrays providing sound field focusing at different depths. To focus the field, a phase conjugation of acoustic waves from a probe source positioned at the focusing point is used. It is demonstrated that surface waves considerably affect the focusing quality at a distance of several tens of kilometers from the transmitting array. This prevents the efficient suppression of long-range reverberation by increasing the focusing depth.