Enhancement of the total acoustic field due to the coupling effects from a rough sea surface and a bubble layer

Abstract

At wind speeds higher than a few meters per second, when breaking waves are present, the sea surface roughness is accompanied by an assemblage of microbubbles forming different structures or clouds, varying in range and in time. For simplicity, in terms of an average bubble population, the time and space varying assemblage of microbubbles is often assumed to be uniform and referred to as the subsurface bubble layer. Of fundamental importance is the role that this subsurface bubble layer may play in connection with scattering from a rough air/sea interface. The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect that the rough surface in the presence of this subsurface bubble layer has on the total field at low frequencies. Numerical calculations indicate that at low frequencies the bubble layer shifts the incident angle on the surface to steeper angles. In addition it was found that the enhancement of the total field is a consequence of scattering at the rough surface in the presence of the upper refracting bubble layer. An enhancement of approximately 40 dB with respect to the bubble-free medium was obtained very near the surface for a frequency of 400 Hz, with a nominal grazing angle of 20 deg, and a void fraction at the surface of 3.2×10−5. The enhancement decreases to about 10–15 dB at 10 m below the surface, but is still significant at depth exceeding the bubbly region. For a void fraction at the surface of 3.1×10−6 the enhancement is approximately 5 dB.