Fred D. Tappert
Appl. Marine Phys., RSMAS, Univ. of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy., Miami, FL 33149
John L. Spiesberger
Penn State Univ., University Park, PA 16802
A new parabolic approximation is derived and implemented that efficiently gives travel time predictions that are accurate to within a few milliseconds at a range of 1000 km and center frequency 75 Hz. Sensitivity of the full-wave travel time predictions to oceanographic and bathymetric inputs along a 3700-km track is studied by comparisons to acoustic data between a source at Kaneohe having center frequency 133 Hz and a bottom mounted receiver near the northern California coast. Path stability for a time interval of several years is also examined with the new broadband PE model, and full-wave generalizations of eigenrays, called eigentubes, are computed. [Work supported by SERDP, ARPA, and ONR.]