ASA 130th Meeting - St. Louis, MO - 1995 Nov 27 .. Dec 01

4pUW9. Experimental measurements of three-dimensional underwater sound propagation over a variable bathymetry laboratory scale model.

Joseph M. Riley

Stewart A. L. Glegg par Ctr. for Acoust. & Vib., Florida Atlantic Univ., Dept. of Ocean Eng., Boca Raton, FL 33431

Grant B. Deane

Scripps Inst. of Oceanogr., La Jolla, CA 92093

Experimental measurements have been conducted giving a complete survey of the acoustic field from a point source in a three-dimensional shallow-water environment. The measurements have been conducted over a 1/10 000th scale model of the Santa Lucia Escarpment off the coast of California. The results of the experiment show three-dimensional propagation effects and areas of modal cutoff in the shallow-water regions. In addition, a discontinuity in the acoustic field was observed for propagation over a joint in the model. This observation has implications for localizing changes in seafloor composition from propagation measurements. Numerical predictions of the acoustic field for selected tracks in the survey show good agreement with the experimental results. [Work supported by the Office of Naval Research, Ocean Acoustics Program.]