The North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory (NPAL) experiment.

Abstract

The North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory program augmented the existing ATOC acoustic network with a sparse, two-dimensional receiving array installed west of Sur Ridge, California, from July 1998 through June 1999, to receive transmissions from the 75-Hz ATOC source north of Kauai. The NPAL array consisted of four 20-element vertical arrays, each with a 700-m aperture, and one 40-element vertical array with a 1400-m aperture. The arrays were deployed transverse to the 3900-km acoustic path from the Kauai source and had a total horizontal aperture of 3600 m. Data collected with the billboard array and the U.S. Navy SOSUS receivers are being used (i) to study the temporal, vertical, and horizontal coherence of long-range, low-frequency resolved rays and modes, (ii) to study 3-D propagation effects, (iii) to examine directional ambient noise properties, and (iv) to improve basin-scale ocean nowcasts via assimilation of acoustic data and other data types into models. In addition to acoustic data, environmental data along the path from the Kauai source to the billboard array were acquired by two oceanographic sub-surface moorings and by two XBT/CTD/ADCP transects along the path. The experiment will be described and some preliminary results presented.