This paper presents preliminary results of a recent study whose overall objectives are to determine the mechanisms contributing significantly to subcritical acoustic penetration into ocean sediments, and to quantify the results for use in sonar performance prediction for the detection of buried objects. In situ acoustic measurements were performed on a sandy bottom whose geoacoustical and geomorphological properties were also measured. A parametric array mounted on a tower moving on a rail was used to insonify hydrophones located above and below the sediment interface. Data covering grazing angles both above and below the nominal critical angle and in the frequency range 2-15 kHz were acquired and processed. The results are compared to two models that account for scattering of sound at the rough water-sediment interface into the sediment. Although all possible mechanisms for subcritical penetration are not modeled, the levels predicted by both models are consistent with the levels observed in the experimental data. For the specific seafloor and experimental conditions examined, the analysis suggests that for frequencies below 5-7 kHz sound penetration into the sediment at subcritical insonification is dominated by the evanescent field, while scattering due to surface roughness is the dominant mechanism at higher frequencies.

Whitt et al. Future of Autonomous Ocean Observations reductions. Cost reductions could enable order-of-magnitude increases in platform operations and increase sampling resolution for a given level of investment. Energy harvesting technologies should be integral to the system design, for sensors, platforms, vehicles, and docking stations. Connections are needed between the marine energy and ocean observing communities to coordinate among funding sources, researchers, and end users. Regional teams should work with global organizations such as IOC/GOOS in governance development. International networks such as emerging glider operations (EGO) should also provide a forum for addressing governance. Networks of multiple vehicles can improve operational efficiencies and transform operational patterns. There is a need to develop operational architectures at regional and global scales to provide a backbone for active networking of autonomous platforms.

The use of low-frequency sonars (2-15 kHz) is explored to better exploit scattering features of buried targets that can contribute to their detection and classification. Compared to conventional mine countermeasure sonars, sound penetrates better into the sediment at these frequencies, and the excitation of structural waves in the targets is enhanced. The main contributions to target echo are the specular reflection, geometric diffraction effects, and the structural response, with the latter being particularly important for man-made elastic objects possessing particular symmetries such as bodies of revolution. The resonance response derives from elastic periodic phenomena such as surface circumferential waves revolving around the target. The GOATS'98 experiment, conducted jointly by SACLANTCEN and MIT off the island of Elba, involved controlled monostatic measurements of scattering by spherical shells which were partially and completely buried in sand, and suspended in the water column. The analysis mainly addresses a study of the effect of burial on the dynamics of backscattered elastic waves, which can be clearly identified in the target responses, and is based on the comparison of measurements with appropriate scattering models. Data interpretation results are in good agreement with theory. This positive result demonstrates the applicability of low-frequency methodologies based on resonance analysis to the classification of buried objects.

This paper describes some of the theory and implementation issues of modeling the backscattered energy from cylindrical or spherical objects lying on the seabed. The model utilizes a single-scatter approximation; this approximation is compared to full multiple scattering solutions to verify its accuracy. The effects of various parameters such as grazing angle of the incident energy, receiver/ scatterer geometry, and the bottom half-space geoacoustic parameters are investigated numerically. The paper is concluded with a comparison of modeled time series with experimental scattering data obtained for a steel-shelled cylinder and a solid aluminum sphere lying on a sandy seabed.

Understanding the basic physics of sound penetration into ocean sediments is essential for the design of sonar systems that can detect, localize, classify, and identify buried objects. In this regard the sound speed of the sediment is a crucial parameter as the ratio of sound speed at the water-sediment interface determines the critical angle. Sediment sound speed is typically measured from core samples using high frequency (100's of kHz) pulsed travel time measurements. Earlier experimental work on subcritical penetration into sandy sediments has suggested that the effective sound speed in the 2-20 kHz range is significantly lower than the core measurement results. Simulations using Biot theory for propagation in porous media confirmed that sandy sediments may be highly dispersive in the range 1-100 kHz for the type of sand in which the experiments were performed. Here it is shown that a direct and robust estimate of the critical angle, and therefore the sediment sound speed, at the lower frequencies can be achieved by analyzing the grazing angle dependence of the phase delays observed on a buried array. A parametric source with secondary frequencies in the 2-16 kHz range was directed toward a sandy bottom similar to the one investigated in the earlier study. An array of 14 hydrophones was used to measure penetrated field. The critical angle was estimated by analyzing the variations of signal arrival times versus frequency, burial depth, and grazing angle. Matching the results with classical transmission theory yielded a sound speed estimate in the sand of 1626 m/s in the frequency range 2-5 kHz, again significantly lower the 1720 m/s estimated from the cores at 200 kHz. However, as described here, this dispersion is consistent with the predictions of the Biot theory for this type of sand.