Overview of the Target and Reverberation EXperiment 2013 (TREX13)

Abstract

The Target and Reverberation Experiment (TREX13) is a shallow water reverberation experiment that endeavored to measure contemporaneously acoustic and adequate environmental data so detailed model/data comparison can be achieved and important environmental factors can be identified for different applications. TREX13 was sponsored by ONR Ocean Acoustics and the SERDP DoD programs. It was conducted during April to June of 2013 off the coast of Panama City, Florida, with participation from multiple institutions and involving three research vessels: The R/V Sharp and R/V Walton Smith from the United States, and the Canadian Force Auxiliary Vessel Quest. From a SONAR viewpoint, reverberation consists of two-way propagation and a single backscatter. Therefore, reverberation, transmission loss, and bottom backscatter were repeatedly measured over a time period of several weeks in the frequency band of 2–10 kHz, along with extensive environmental measurements. Discussed will be planning and execution of the field experiments, strategies and steps for data analysis, and modeling efforts.