Recent developments in modelling acoustic reflection loss at the rough ocean surface

The transmission of sonar signals in a surface ducted environment, or in a shallow ocean, is affected by reflection losses at the ocean surface, when wind action or swell causes the surface to be roughened. Under these circumstances, the amplitude of the specular reflection of sound at the ocean sur...

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Main Authors: Jones, A., Duncan, Alexander, Bartel, D., Zinoviev, A., Maggi, Amos
Other Authors: David J Mee
Format: Conference Paper
Published: The Australian Acoustical Society 2011
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28976
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author Jones, A.
Duncan, Alexander
Bartel, D.
Zinoviev, A.
Maggi, Amos
author2 David J Mee
author_facet David J Mee
Jones, A.
Duncan, Alexander
Bartel, D.
Zinoviev, A.
Maggi, Amos
author_sort Jones, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The transmission of sonar signals in a surface ducted environment, or in a shallow ocean, is affected by reflection losses at the ocean surface, when wind action or swell causes the surface to be roughened. Under these circumstances, the amplitude of the specular reflection of sound at the ocean surface is reduced by a number of complex phenomena, including: the sea surface shape; acoustic shadowing of parts of the surface to sound incident at small angles; diffraction of sound into the shadow zones; and bubble formation from white-caps. Recent work has shown that the inclusion of these effects within a ray model of transmission is a formidable prospect, as ray theory cannot describe all the phenomena explicitly, and the inclusion of acoustic wave effects in combination with a ray model is required. This paper addresses several of the complexities, in the search for a comprehensive solution to this modelling issue. In particular, the appropriateness of the Small-Slope Approximation roughness model used by Williams et al, (JASA, 116, Oct. 2004) is investigated, using a Parabolic Equation (PE) model, Also, the refraction near the ocean surface caused by wind-induced bubbles (e.g. Ainslie, JASA, 118, Dec. 2005) is investigated using the PE model. Lastly, the surface loss values obtained for received coherent sound pressure are compared with those relevant to received root-mean-square sound pressure. The paper speculates on the prospects for the future development of a surface loss model that includes all relevant effects.
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publishDate 2011
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-289762023-01-27T05:52:08Z Recent developments in modelling acoustic reflection loss at the rough ocean surface Jones, A. Duncan, Alexander Bartel, D. Zinoviev, A. Maggi, Amos David J Mee Ian D M Hillock The transmission of sonar signals in a surface ducted environment, or in a shallow ocean, is affected by reflection losses at the ocean surface, when wind action or swell causes the surface to be roughened. Under these circumstances, the amplitude of the specular reflection of sound at the ocean surface is reduced by a number of complex phenomena, including: the sea surface shape; acoustic shadowing of parts of the surface to sound incident at small angles; diffraction of sound into the shadow zones; and bubble formation from white-caps. Recent work has shown that the inclusion of these effects within a ray model of transmission is a formidable prospect, as ray theory cannot describe all the phenomena explicitly, and the inclusion of acoustic wave effects in combination with a ray model is required. This paper addresses several of the complexities, in the search for a comprehensive solution to this modelling issue. In particular, the appropriateness of the Small-Slope Approximation roughness model used by Williams et al, (JASA, 116, Oct. 2004) is investigated, using a Parabolic Equation (PE) model, Also, the refraction near the ocean surface caused by wind-induced bubbles (e.g. Ainslie, JASA, 118, Dec. 2005) is investigated using the PE model. Lastly, the surface loss values obtained for received coherent sound pressure are compared with those relevant to received root-mean-square sound pressure. The paper speculates on the prospects for the future development of a surface loss model that includes all relevant effects. 2011 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28976 The Australian Acoustical Society fulltext
spellingShingle Jones, A.
Duncan, Alexander
Bartel, D.
Zinoviev, A.
Maggi, Amos
Recent developments in modelling acoustic reflection loss at the rough ocean surface
title Recent developments in modelling acoustic reflection loss at the rough ocean surface
title_full Recent developments in modelling acoustic reflection loss at the rough ocean surface
title_fullStr Recent developments in modelling acoustic reflection loss at the rough ocean surface
title_full_unstemmed Recent developments in modelling acoustic reflection loss at the rough ocean surface
title_short Recent developments in modelling acoustic reflection loss at the rough ocean surface
title_sort recent developments in modelling acoustic reflection loss at the rough ocean surface
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28976