Research Summaries

Back Sand Dunes on the Upper Slope of the South China Sea: Acoustic Propagation Data Analysis and Modeling

Fiscal Year 2015
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Oceanography
Investigator(s) Reeder, Davis B.
Sponsor Office of Naval Research (Navy)
Summary Very large subaqueous sand dunes were discovered on the upper continental slope of the northern South China Sea (SCS) in the spring of 2007 on the upper continental slope in water depths of 160 m to 600 m. While subaqueous dunes are found in many locations throughout the world's oceans and coastal zones, these particular dunes appear to be unique for two principal reasons: their location on the upper continental slope and their distinctive formation mechanism (approximately 30 episodic, extremely energetic, large amplitude trans-basin non-linear internal wave events each lunar cycle). These sand dunes are important acoustical features, as it is expected that they will cause operationally significant anomalies in the acoustical field, which will impact the performance of both active and passive sonar systems. Several research cruises have been carried out to study the dunes and much data has been collected. This proposal seeks support for data analysis and modeling to fully understand the acoustic propagation characteristics of the sand dunes. Objectives include analysis and modeling of the acoustic data collected during the 2013 and 2014 field experiments; coordination of one or two workshops with Taiwanese colleagues; presentation of results at the semi-annual ASA conferences and publication the acoustical archival journals; and initial planning for a follow-on field experiment with our Taiwanese colleagues in the South and East China Seas.
Keywords
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