The influence of optical properties of shallow shelf seas on temperature structure and acoustic propagation

Abstract

The penetration of solar radiation below the sea surface is not always taken into account in numerical ocean models, even though its influence on the temperature (and therefore sound speed), structure of the water column can be significant, especially in shallow shelf seas where water turbidity tends to be high. Variations in sound speed structure have a consequent effect on the propagation of sound underwater which, in turn, influences the performance of sonar systems. A double exponential parameterization for the penetration of solar radiation with depth was implemented in an N × 1 D turbulence closure model of the UK shelf seas. The model was run along a section through the Celtic Sea Front, with sets of optical extinction coefficients representing different water clarities, for one month to simulate the generation of the front, and the results were compared with a control model run in which all solar radiation was absorbed in the surface layer. Temperature structure and sound propagation were only affected by changes to the optical parameterization on the stratified side of the front, where consequent variations in acoustic propagation loss of up to 10 dB relative to the control were simulated using an acoustic model. Changes in propagation loss were greatest for acoustic sources placed in the stratified water above the thermocline. Similar changes to the optical parameterization made on the well-mixed side of the front had no discernible effect.