The effect of noisy reflection data on an inverse method for determining the structure of a layered ocean bottom

Abstract

A basic inverse problem in underwater acoustics is the determination of the structure of the seabed from a limited knowledge of the reflection coefficient. For many applications, an adequate model for studying the acoustic interaction is provided by the scattering of plane waves by a layered liquid medium. In contrast to formally exact solutions to this inverse scattering problem, Candel et al. [J. Sound Vib. 68, 571–595 (1980)] develop and approximate scheme which is readily implemented numerically. Under the assumption of nonabsorptive media, the reconstruction of both density and sound-speed profiles is effected by the numerical integration Of a system of four first-order differential equations requiring impulse response data for two distinct grazing angles. In this paper, the effect of additive noise on the inversion algorithm is examined for synthetic reflection data generated for a geoacoustic model of deep-sea sediments representative of the Hatteras Abyssal Plain.