Research Summaries

Back NSFOCE-BSF: Acoustic Noise Interferometry for Ocean Remote Sensing

Fiscal Year 2017
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Physics
Investigator(s) Godin, Oleg A.
Sponsor National Science Foundation (NSF)
Summary This project investigates a new, low-cost and environmentally friendly passive approach to remote sensing of the ocean interior, which takes advantage of ambient underwater acoustic fields (noise). Ocean is transparent to sound, and acoustic waves from distant sources retain their coherence as they propagate between receivers tens of kilometers apart. Cross-correlation of ambient noise between pairs of hydrophones provides a probing signal that is sensitive to the sound speed (water temperature) and current velocity in the volume encircled by the hydrophones. The feasibility of ocean remote sensing with ambient noise has been established in an earlier NSF-funded effort. We will investigate the constraints that are imposed on passive acoustic remote sensing by the ocean dynamics. The long-term goal of this research is to determine, which oceanographic processes and physical parameters of the ocean can be monitored by using acoustic noise interferometry, to characterize accuracy and spatial and temporal resolution of passive acoustic remote sensing, and to make noise interferometry a standard tool of observation of the ocean's interior. The proposed work involves a combination of data analysis, theory, numerical simulations, and signal-processing algorithm development. Instead of conducting dedicated sea trials, the experimental work makes use of the extensive acoustic data and concurrent water temperature and current velocity measurements obtained in the Shallow Water ?06 experiment off the coast of New Jersey.
Keywords Acoustical Oceanography Noise Interferometry Passive Remote Sensing underwater acoustics
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal