Effects of benthic organisms and organic matter on marine sediment
Abstract
The long-term scientific objective of this project is to increase the basic understanding of sound propagation in ocean bottom sediments that include benthic organisms and organic matter, which in turn has potential benefits for active and passive sonar operation in shallow water, buried object detection, and acoustic communications in shallow water. The near-term research objective is to determine to what extent benthic organisms contribute to spatiotemporal acoustic variability at the seabed through in situ field and laboratory data collection and the application of sediment acoustics models. The proposed research will explore the influences of various macrofaunal functional groups, invertebrate-related sediment mixing and structuring, and the presence of organic matter and infauna-related changes to sediment pore fluid on seabed geotechnical properties, like porosity, grain size distribution, and cohesion, and how this impacts the seabeds acoustic properties, such as sound speed, attenuation, volume scattering, and bottom loss. The project leaders will also continue to participate in meetings and consult with a Specialist Team (ST) formed by NATO Underwater Warfare Capabilities Group (UWW CG), whose purpose is to examine the impact of biological processes on the seafloor and related acoustics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 06, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112254
Entities
People
- Kevin M. Lee
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Texas at Austin