Transverse-longitudinal coherence function of a sound field for line-of-sight propagation in a turbulent atmosphere

Abstract

Using the narrow-angle and Markov approximations, a formula for the transverse-longitudinal coherence function of a sound field propagating in a turbulent atmosphere with temperature and wind velocity fluctuations is derived. This function, which applies to observation points that are arbitrarily located in space, generalizes the transverse coherence function (coherence when the observation points are in a plane perpendicular to the sound propagation path), which has been studied extensively. The new result is expressed in terms of the transverse coherence function and the extinction coefficient of the mean sound field. The transverse-longitudinal coherence function of a plane sound wave is then calculated and studied in detail for the Gaussian and von Kármán spectra of temperature and wind velocity fluctuations. It is shown, for relatively small propagation distances, that the magnitude of the coherence function decreases in the longitudinal direction but remains almost constant in the transverse direction. On the other hand, for moderate and large propagation distances, the magnitude of the coherence decreases faster in the transverse direction than in the longitudinal. For some parameters of the problem, the coherence function has relatively large local maxima and minima as the transverse and longitudinal coordinates are varied. With small modifications, many results obtained in the paper can be applied to studies of electromagnetic wave propagation in a turbulent atmosphere.