Ocean Ambient Noise Studies for Shallow and Deep Water Environments

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the characteristics of the low and mid frequency ocean ambient noise field with the long term goal of exploiting the noise field for physics based processing methods that improve sonar system performance. Research over the past several years has shown that breaking wave noise can be used for remote sensing of the environment. There are several advantages to passive remote sensing including simple measurement requirements and minimal environmental impact. While ocean ambient noise has been studied for decades, much of the interest has been on determining the impact of noise on sonar performance. In this project, the emphasis has been shifted to how ocean noise can be exploited to improve sonar performance and performance prediction. In this report, recent work will be described that improves estimates of the seabed bottom loss derived from measurements of ambient noise. Knowing the seabed properties is important to predict sound propagation in the ocean (and therefore predicting sonar system performance). These methods will lead to new surveying techniques that can be used to update the Low Frequency Bottom Loss (LFBL) or High Frequency Bottom Loss (HFBL) databases. LFBL and HFBL are databases that the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO) maintains and updates and are used for sonar performance prediction as part of the Navy s tactical decision aids.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 2012
Accession Number
ADA575094

Entities

People

  • Martin Siderius

Organizations

  • Portland State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Communications
  • Acoustic Propagation
  • Acoustic Properties
  • Acoustics
  • Ambient Noise
  • Bottom Loss
  • Deep Water
  • Environment
  • Frequency
  • Losses
  • Measurement
  • Noise
  • Simulations
  • Transmission Loss
  • Underwater Acoustics
  • Water
  • Waves

Readers

  • Acoustical Oceanography.