How the thermocline affects the value of the waveguide invariant in a shallow-water waveguide

An overview of array invariant for source-range estimation in shallow water

Traditional matched-field processing (MFP) refers to array processing algorithms, which fully exploit the physics of wave propagation to localize underwater acoustic sources. As a generalization of plane wave beamforming, the "steering vectors," or replicas, are solutions of the wave equation descriptive of the ocean environment. Thus, model-based MFP is inherently sensitive to environmental mismatch, motivating the development of robust methods. One such method is the array invariant (AI), which instead exploits the dispersion characteristics of broadband signals in acoustic waveguides, summarized by a single parameter known as the waveguide invariant β. AI employs conventional plane wave beamforming and utilizes coherent multipath arrivals (eigenrays) separated into beam angle and travel time for source-range estimation. Although originating from the ideal waveguide, it is applicable to many realistic shallow-water environments wherein the dispersion characteristics are similar to those in ideal waveguides. First introduced in 2006 and denoted by χ, the dispersion-based AI has been fully integrated with β. The remarkable performance and robustness of AI were demonstrated using various experimental data collected in shallow water, including sources of opportunity. Further, it was extended successfully to a range-dependent coastal environment with a sloping bottom, using an iterative approach and a small-aperture array. This paper provides an overview of AI, covering its basic physics and connection with β, comparison between MFP and AI, self-calibration of the array tilt, and recent developments such as adaptive AI, which can handle the dependence of β on the propagation angle, including steep-angle arrivals.

Influence of seabed on very low frequency sound recorded during passage of merchant ships on the New England shelf

An examination of the received spectrogram levels of about twenty merchant ship recordings on two vertical line arrays deployed on the New England continental shelf during the Seabed Characterization Experiment 2017 has identified an acoustic feature that can be attributed to the group velocities of modes 1 and 2 being equal at a frequency f=F. The observation of such a feature is a result of β_nm(2πF)=∞, where β_nm is the waveguide invariant for modes n and m. For the New England Mudpatch, the average value of F is about 24.5 Hz. An effective seabed model is inferred from a feature inversion method that has a deep sediment layer which lies between 190 m and 290 m beneath the seafloor with sound speeds on the order of 1810 m/s. This effective sediment model appears to be consistent with a previous seismic survey on the New England shelf that identified a deep low speed layer about 250 m beneath the water sediment interface.

Application of Waveguide Invariant Theory to Analysis of Interference Phenomenon in Deep Ocean

When a hydrophone is deployed under the critical depth in deep ocean, the interference pattern will be complex and variable. The waveguide invariant is no longer constant and is treated as a distribution. The interference pattern is impacted by refracted and surface reflected (RSR) modes, as well as surface reflected and bottom reflected (SRBR) modes together. This phenomenon is illustrated by numerical simulation and explained by the waveguide invariant theory in this paper. The theory demonstrates: (1) The interference pattern in zone-b corresponds to the waveguide invariant βRSR that varies quickly and leads to the slope change, which is contributed by RSR modes whose phase velocity is less than the sound velocity at seafloor; (2) The interference pattern in zone-a1 and zone-c1 is corresponding to the βSRBRWS that is the approximately 0.7 and leads to the stable slope, which is contributed by SRBR modes whose phase velocity is between the sound velocity at seafloor and sediment velocity; (3) The interference pattern in zone-a2 and zone-c2 is corresponding to the βSRBRSH which hardly varies at low frequency but varies fiercely with source frequency increasing, so the striations are complex with high frequency, which is contributed by SRBR modes whose phase speed is between sediment speed and half space speed.

The influence of mode coupling on waveguide invariant

The waveguide invariant β is typically discussed in terms of either a range-independent environment or a range-dependent environment under the adiabatic approximation, with few studies considering the effects of mode coupling. In this work, how internal solitary waves (ISWs) affect the waveguide invariant is investigated, and it is shown that mode-coupling effects introduce many additional components in the acoustic interference intensity. It is found that the striation slope and value of β for these additional components are determined not only by the acoustic modal dispersion, but are also dependent on the position where the mode coupling occurs. This can lead to a very complicated acoustic interference pattern and result in multiple peaks in the distribution of β. The sensitivity of β to the parameters of ISWs, such as amplitude, horizontal scale, and position, is analyzed. It is found that although all parameters can affect the energy of the peaks, only the position of the internal wave has an obvious impact on the peak values. This indicates that the peak values of β can be utilized for monitoring the position of the internal wave.