Thrust Category: Shallow-Water Acoustics LONG-TERM GOALS

Develop propagation models and related methods for complex shallow-water environments, test their capabilities and accuracy, and apply them to understand experimental data. OBJECTIVES (A) Treat propagation from both narrowband and broadband sources over range-dependent elastic and poro-elastic sediments, and estimate the geoacoustic parameters. (B) Find field statistics efficiently from stochastic propagation models, quantify effects of random environmental and experimental variability, and analyze data using model simulations. APPROACH (A) We develop high accuracy PE techniques, incorporating energy conservation and dispersive corrections, for isotropic and anisotropic sediments. Simulated annealing techniques are adapted for parameter inversions. (B) We construct stochastic ensembles for geoacoustic and ocean variability employing data and empirical orthogonal function representations. Field calculations are performed using PE, normal mode, and perturbation methods