Acoustical oceanography with a single hydrophone: Propagation, physics-based processing and applications

Abstract

Lobsters, whales and submarines have little in common. Except that they produce low-frequency sound, like many other marine occupants that use sound for communication, foraging, navigation and other purposes. However, unraveling and using the underwater cacophony is not at all simple. This is particularly true for low-frequency (f < 500 Hz) propagation in coastal water (water depth D < 200 m), because the environment acts as a dispersive waveguide: the acoustic field is described by a set of modes that propagate with frequency-dependent speeds. In this context, to extract relevant information from acoustic recording, one needs to understand the propagation and to use physics-based processing. In this tutorial-like presentation, we will show how to analyze low-frequency data recorded on a single hydrophone. We will notably review modal propagation and time-frequency analysis. We will then show how those can be combined into a non-linear signal processing method dedicated to extract modal information from single receiver, and how such information can be used to localize sound sources and/or characterize the oceanic environment. The whole method will be illustrated on several experimental examples, including geoacoustic inversion on the New England Mud Patch and baleen whale localization in the Arctic.