Seasonal Temperature Gradients Within a Sandy Seafloor: Implications for Acoustic Propagation and Scattering
Abstract
Seafloor temperatures measured during the SAX99 experiment off Fort Walton Beach, Florida included sharp decreases in response to the passage of cold fronts. Sediment pore water temperatures exhibited an increasing temperature (3-40 deg C m(-1)) with depth in the sediment. By fitting a heat conduction model to the gradient data, the thermal diffusivity of the sediment was estimated to be 0.006 cm(2)s(-1). The effects of seasonal variations of sediment thermal gradients on reflection and scattering from the sediment-water interface are found to be significant at frequencies near 1 kHz but diminish at higher frequencies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 10, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA393656
Entities
People
- Darrell R. Jackson
- Michael D. Richardson
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory