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This paper addresses the problem of predicting and interpreting acoustic wave field properties in a stochastic ocean waveguide, for which the sound-speed variability within the water column is treated explicitly as a random process. It is assumed that the sound-speed distribution is composed of three components: a deterministic, time-independent profile and two stochastic components induced by internal wave activity. One random contribution represents a spatially diffuse Garrett–Munk field whose spectrum is constrained by the shallow water waveguide, while the second corresponds to spatially localized soliton packets. A high-angle elastic parabolic equation method is applied to compute single frequency realizations of the pressure field using this three-component representation of the sound-speed distribution. Ensemble-averaged transmission loss and scintillation index measures for the full pressure field and its modal components are estimated for different source depths and for both flat and sloping bottoms. Probability distributions of the mode amplitudes for different ranges are also presented. These statistical measures are incorporated into the analysis of range-dependent mode coupling between the internal wave and acoustic fields, and evidence is presented which supports a recent prediction that the scintillation index grows exponentially with range due to the competition between mode coupling and mode stripping found in shallow water waveguides. Full-field estimates of the scintillation index are also presented for a shallow water region on the continental slope off the New Jersey coast.

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Results of a computer simulation study are presented for acoustic propagation in a shallow water, anisotropic ocean environment. The water column is characterized by random volume fluctuations in the sound speed field that are induced by internal gravity waves, and this variability is superimposed on a dominant summer thermocline. Both the internal wave field and resulting sound speed perturbations are represented in three-dimensional (3D) space and evolve in time. The isopycnal displacements consist of two components: a spatially diffuse, horizontally isotropic component and a spatially localized contribution from an undular bore (i.e., a solitary wave packet or solibore) that exhibits horizontal (azimuthal) anisotropy. An acoustic field is propagated through this waveguide using a 3D parabolic equation code based on differential operators representing wide-angle coverage in elevation and narrow-angle coverage in azimuth. Transmission loss is evaluated both for fixed time snapshots of the environment and as a function of time over an ordered set of snapshots which represent the time-evolving sound speed distribution. Horizontal acoustic coherence, also known as transverse or cross-range coherence, is estimated for horizontally separated points in the direction normal to the source-receiver orientation. Both transmission loss and spatial coherence are computed at acoustic frequencies 200 and 400 Hz for ranges extending to 10 km, a cross-range of 1 km, and a water depth of 68 m. Azimuthal filtering of the propagated field occurs for this environment, with the strongest variations appearing when propagation is parallel to the solitary wave depressions of the thermocline. A large anisotropic degradation in horizontal coherence occurs under the same conditions. Horizontal refraction of the acoustic wave front is responsible for the degradation, as demonstrated by an energy gradient analysis of in-plane and out-of-plane energy transfer. The solitary wave packet is interpreted as a nonstationary oceanographic waveguide within the water column, preferentially funneling acoustic energy between the thermocline depressions.

A numerical study of beamforming on a horizontal array is performed in a shallow water waveguide where a summer thermocline is perturbed by a time evolving realization of an internal wave field. The components of the internal wave field consist of a horizontally (azimuthally) isotropic, spatially homogeneous contribution, and a horizontally anisotropic, spatially inhomogeneous component. These terms represent a diffuse ("background") internal wave field and a localized solitary wave packet, respectively. Conventional beamforming is performed as a function of time while the internal wave field evolves throughout a computational volume containing the source-receiver paths. Source-receiver orientation with respect to the azimuthally anisotropic component has a significant effect on the beamformed output. When the source-receiver configuration is oriented approximately parallel to the solitary wave crests, beam wander, fading, beam splitting and coherence length degradation occurs in a time-dependent manner as the solitary wave packet passes through the environment. Both horizontal refraction of energy and a time-dependent modal source excitation distribution are responsible for these beamforming effects. In cases where source-receiver orientation is not approximately parallel to the wave crests, these effects are substantially reduced or eliminated, indicating that an azimuthally selective perturbation of the acoustic field can be attributed to the wave packet. Modal decomposition of the acoustic field and single mode starting fields are used to infer that, for the source-receiver orientation along the wave crests and troughs, acoustic propagation is predominantly adiabatic. A modal phase speed analysis explains several features associated with the beamformed power.