Predicting acoustic backscattering from bioturbated seafloors

Abstract

Seabed roughness is an important property for high-frequency scattering. However, for certain littoral environments, the surficial roughness of the seabed is often continuously being modified by hydrodynamic and biologic forces. For example, ocean surface waves may create orbital ripples on sand seafloors which are characterized by anisotropic roughness, and acoustic scattering from such a seafloor would be strongly aspect-dependent. Yet bottom-dwelling organisms rework the sediment, returning the structured seabed relief to random isotropic roughness, where acoustic scattering is more uniform with respect to the aspect ensonified. In this talk, we will utilize both analytic expressions as well as procedural generation methods to predict the two-dimensional roughness equilibrium power spectra of rippled and bioturbated seafloors, and the resulting impact on acoustic scattering prediction.