Intensity measurements and fluctuations of acoustic transmissions from the Research Vessel Sharp during Shallow Water 2006.

Abstract

During the Shallow Water 2006 (SW06) experiment, the University of Delaware’s R/V Sharp transmitted various acoustic signals at several different bearings and ranges to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s vertical and horizontal hydrophone line array. The array was strategically positioned near the shelfbreak front, and in an area where internal waves are known to occur. During several of the R/V Sharp’s acoustic transmissions, internal waves passed through the sound field. The internal waves and the shelfbreak front can cause complex multimode and multipath interference patterns which result in intensity variations of received acoustic signals. This presentation provides an overview of the R/V Sharp’s transmissions, and the corresponding intensity fluctuations of received signals at the array. These fluctuations are compared to internal wave events that were recorded at both the transmission and reception locations. These internal wave events were also imaged by the R/V Sharp’s radar and satellite‐b...