On the possibility of using acoustic reverberation for remote sensing of ocean dynamics

The two-point correlation function of diffuse noise fields produced by distributed random sound sources carries useful information on the medium of sound propagation. Such information can be used for performing passive acoustic tomography of the ocean. In a number of cases that are important for practice, the noise field in the ocean is predominated by contributions of individual point sources. Here, a theoretical study is presented on the possibility of determining the sound speed and current velocity in the water column by the correlation processing of reverberation signals measured by two vertical receiving arrays. In other words, we study the possibility of replacing the diffuse noise produced by a great number of delta-correlated sources by waves generated by a localized source and scattered at the rough surface and bottom of the ocean for sensing the medium. The correlation function of scattered waves is calculated by using the method of small perturbations. It is shown that the correlation processing of the scattered waves offers an opportunity of measuring the acoustic nonreciprocity and reconstructing the field of sound speed in the fluid, without using any acoustiLc transceivers.     

利用海洋环境噪声估计海流流速

为了观测海流在短时间尺度上的变化,基于被动声层析原理,提出了一种利用浅海海洋环境噪声估计海流流速的方法.通过波束形成增加噪声互相关函数的能量积累,从环境噪声互相关函数提取出两个水平阵列间的经验格林函数,利用经验格林函数的时间到达结构反演阵列间的浅海海流流速.海上实验数据处理结果表明,该方法提取了2h时间平均的经验格林函...     

Enhancing the emergence rate of coherent wavefronts from ocean ambient noise correlations using spatio-temporal filters

Extracting coherent wavefronts between passive receivers using cross-correlations of ambient noise (CAN) provides a means for monitoring the seismoacoustic environment without using active sources. However, using cross-correlations between single receivers can require a long recording time in order to extract stable coherent arrivals from CAN. This becomes an issue if the propagation medium fluctuates significantly during the recording period. To address this issue, this article presents a general spatio-temporal filtering procedure to enhance the emergence rate for coherent wavefronts extracted from time-averaged ambient noise correlations between two spatially separated arrays. The robustness of this array-based CAN technique is investigated using ambient shipping noise recorded over 24?h in the frequency band [250-850 Hz] on two vertical line arrays deployed 143?m apart in shallow water (depth 20?m). Experimental results confirm that the array-based CAN technique can significantly reduce the recording duration (e.g., from 22?h to 30?min) required for extracting coherent wavefronts of sufficient amplitude (e.g., 20?dB over residual temporal fluctations) when compared to conventional CAN implementations between single pairs of hydrophones. These improvements of the CAN technique could benefit the development of noise-based ocean monitoring applications such as passive acoustic tomography.     

岛礁海域海洋环境噪声垂直分布和垂直指向性

依据岛礁海域复杂海底地形、海试期间航船分布和实测风速数据,应用射线声传播理论,建立岛礁海域海洋环境噪声三维模型。在海试岛礁海域深海声道条件下,采用射线3D算法,仿真计算了32元垂直测量阵所处265~885 m负声速梯度深度范围内1 kHz风关和50 Hz远处航船海洋环境噪声级垂直分布,以及50 Hz航船海洋环境噪声垂直指向性,并与实测分析进行比较。结果表明,仿真结果与海试实测数据一致性良好。在本例海底起伏、接收点周边存在众多岛礁和海底山的三维环境中,1 kHz风关海洋环境噪声级随深度分布较近于均匀;西南方向较远处航道区海域海底较平坦,航道区至接收阵为缓斜坡海底,50 Hz远处航船海洋环境噪声级随深度有所增加,其噪声垂直指向性无明显水平凹槽。文中建立的岛礁海域海洋环境噪声三维模型,可较好地表征本例岛礁复杂地形海底起伏海域的风关和航船海洋环境噪声级的垂直分布、及航船环境噪声的垂直指向性,实测和仿真的岛礁海域海洋环境噪声相关数据,可供实际应用及相关研究参考。      

Beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) passive acoustic detection in increasing ambient noise

Passive acoustic detection is being increasingly used to monitor visually cryptic cetaceans such as Blainville's beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) that may be especially sensitive to underwater sound. The efficacy of passive acoustic detection is traditionally characterized by the probability of detecting the animal's sound emissions as a function of signal-to-noise ratio. The probability of detection can be predicted using accepted, but not necessarily accurate, models of the underwater acoustic environment. Recent field studies combining far-field hydrophone arrays with on-animal acoustic recording tags have yielded the location and time of each sound emission from tagged animals, enabling in-situ measurements of the probability of detection. However, tagging studies can only take place in calm seas and so do not reflect the full range of ambient noise conditions under which passive acoustic detection may be used. Increased surface-generated noise from wind and wave interaction degrades the signal-to-noise ratio of animal sound receptions at a given distance leading to a reduction in probability of detection. This paper presents a case study simulating the effect of increasing ambient noise on detection of M. densirostris foraging clicks recorded from a tagged whale swimming in the vicinity of a deep-water, bottom-mounted hydrophone array.     

Tomographic inversion of measured cross-correlation functions of ocean noise in shallow water using ray theory

Based on experimental data obtained in 2012 in the Florida Strait, we study the feasibility of employing ray tomography to retrieve sound speed and flow velocity profiles from measured noise cross-correlation functions. We describe the results of numerical experiments that characterize the inversion errors resulting from peculiarities of the ray structure in shallow water, difficulties in unambiguous identification of ray arrivals, and a decrease in accuracy of ray theory at low frequencies. We show that under conditions of low-mode sound propagation, the use of the classical ray tomography scheme can yield only a rough estimate of the sound speed profile, but it allows approximate reconstruction of the current velocity profile. Application of passive ray tomography to the experimental data yields the current velocity profile in the Straits of Florida, which agrees with independent measurements within the inversion error limit.     

Travel-time tomography in shallow water: experimental demonstration at an ultrasonic scale

Acoustic tomography in a shallow ultrasonic waveguide is demonstrated at the laboratory scale between two source-receiver arrays. At a 1/1,000 scale, the waveguide represents a 1.1-km-long, 52-m-deep ocean acoustic channel in the kilohertz frequency range. Two coplanar arrays record the transfer matrix in the time domain of the waveguide between each pair of source-receiver transducers. A time-domain, double-beamforming algorithm is simultaneously performed on the source and receiver arrays that projects the multi-reflected acoustic echoes into an equivalent set of eigenrays, which are characterized by their travel times and their launch and arrival angles. Travel-time differences are measured for each eigenray every 0.1 s when a thermal plume is generated at a given location in the waveguide. Travel-time tomography inversion is then performed using two forward models based either on ray theory or on the diffraction-based sensitivity kernel. The spatially resolved range and depth inversion data confirm the feasibility of acoustic tomography in shallow water. Comparisons are made between inversion results at 1 and 3 MHz with the inversion procedure using ray theory or the finite-frequency approach. The influence of surface fluctuations at the air-water interface is shown and discussed in the framework of shallow-water ocean tomography.     

三维复杂温度场高精度声学测量方法

声学温度场检测技术通过多路径声波传播时间数据,反演被测区域的温度分布.提供了一种高精度的三维复杂温度场的声学测量方法.首先从射线声学角度给出了三维非均匀温度场中声波传播路径的数学模型.在此基础上,将三维温度场的重建问题转化为声波传播路径的求解和温度场的反演问题,建立了基于多项式修正径向基函数(RBF-PR)和改进的Ti...     

利用海洋环境噪声直接提取海底反射系数

提出了一种利用海洋环境噪声直接(非迭代)提取海底反射系数的方法,基于海洋环境噪声垂直相关函数与方向密度函数的相似性,结合海洋环境噪声射线理论,由两个垂直排列的水听器实现海底反射系数的被动获取.方法适应性的仿真分析说明较高海况下且近场无航船干扰的海洋环境噪声数据有利于方法的实现;对于两层海底,海洋环境噪声垂直相干函数经高...     

利用环境噪声互相关实现散射体无源成像

最近研究表明利用环境噪声的互相关可以恢复两点之间的时域格林函数(声脉冲响应),这一原理在文献中被称为格林函数恢复。基于此原理,通过对多个传声器所接收的环境噪声进行互相关处理,获取与散射体相关联的散射波的到达时延信息,结合最小二乘反演算法和改进克希霍夫移位算法,分别获得道路交通噪声场中石柱以及海浪噪声场中塑料桶的空间位置,且其估计结果与实际测量相一致。实验结果表明将环境噪声作为探测信号进行散射体无源成像是可行的。这为设计室内无源声监测系统以及通过海洋环境噪声实现对水中静默目标成像提供了新思路和有益参考。      

噪声源非均匀分布海洋环境噪声水平声能流理论分析

研究水平非均匀分布噪声源所产生的各向异性海洋环境噪声场声能流。提出一种混合型非均匀分布噪声源模型,理论分析并数值计算了此模型情况下的环境噪声场水平声能流。结果表明:非均匀分布噪声源引起的海洋环境噪声场具有显著非零平均水平声能流;不同接收点的水平声能流明显不同;其幅度和方向取决于各个局部海域不等强度声源产生的合成噪声声能流矢量和。研究了两接收点间噪声的声压和振速水平分量、振速水平分量归一化相关系数随两接收点间距的关系,各量之间表现出较强相关性,为分析水下矢量声场目标探测技术性能提供理论依据。      

Spatial coherences of the sound pressure and the particle velocity in underwater ambient noise

The spatial coherences were investigated between the sound pressure and the three orthogonal components of the particle velocity in underwater ambient noise. Based on the ray theory, integral expression was derived for the spatial coherence matrix of the sound pressure and the particle velocity in a stratified ocean with dipole noise sources homogenously distributed on the surface. The integrand includes a multiplying factor of the vertical directivity of the noise intensity, and the layered ocean environment affects the spatial coherences via this directivity factor. For a shallow water environment and a semi-infinite homogenous medium, the coherence calculation results were given. It was showed that the sound speed profile and the sea bottom could not be neglected in determining the spatial coherences of the ambient noise vector field.     

A high-frequency warm shallow water acoustic communications channel model and measurements

Underwater acoustic communication is a core enabling technology with applications in ocean monitoring using remote sensors and autonomous underwater vehicles. One of the more challenging underwater acoustic communication channels is the medium-range very shallow warm-water channel, common in tropical coastal regions. This channel exhibits two key features-extensive time-varying multipath and high levels of non-Gaussian ambient noise due to snapping shrimp-both of which limit the performance of traditional communication techniques. A good understanding of the communications channel is key to the design of communication systems. It aids in the development of signal processing techniques as well as in the testing of the techniques via simulation. In this article, a physics-based channel model for the very shallow warm-water acoustic channel at high frequencies is developed, which are of interest to medium-range communication system developers. The model is based on ray acoustics and includes time-varying statistical effects as well as non-Gaussian ambient noise statistics observed during channel studies. The model is calibrated and its accuracy validated using measurements made at sea.     

Restless rays, steady wave fronts

Observations of underwater acoustic fields with vertical line arrays and numerical simulations of long-range sound propagation in an ocean perturbed by internal gravity waves indicate that acoustic wave fronts are much more stable than the rays comprising these wave fronts. This paper provides a theoretical explanation of the phenomenon of wave front stability in a medium with weak sound-speed perturbations. It is shown analytically that at propagation ranges that are large compared to the correlation length of the sound-speed perturbations but smaller than ranges at which ray chaos develops, end points of rays launched from a point source and having a given travel time are scattered primarily along the wave front corresponding to the same travel time in the unperturbed environment. The ratio of root mean square displacements of the ray end points along and across the unperturbed wave front increases with range as the ratio of ray length to correlation length of environmental perturbations. An intuitive physical explanation of the theoretical results is proposed. The relative stability of wave fronts compared to rays is shown to follow from Fermat's principle and dimensional considerations.     

Prediction of underwater sound levels from rain and wind

Wind and rain generated ambient sound from the ocean surface represents the background baseline of ocean noise. Understanding these ambient sounds under different conditions will facilitate other scientific studies. For example, measurement of the processes producing the sound, assessment of sonar performance, and helping to understand the influence of anthropogenic generated noise on marine mammals. About 90 buoy-months of ocean ambient sound data have been collected using Acoustic Rain Gauges in different open-ocean locations in the Tropical Pacific Ocean. Distinct ambient sound spectra for various rainfall rates and wind speeds are identified through a series of discrimination processes. Five divisions of the sound spectra associated with different sound generating mechanisms can be predicted using wind speed and rainfall rate as input variables. The ambient sound data collected from the Intertropical Convergence Zone are used to construct the prediction algorithms, and are tested on the data from the Western Pacific Warm Pool. This physically based semi-empirical model predicts the ambient sound spectra (0.5-50 kHz) at rainfall rates from 2-200 mm/h and wind speeds from 2 to 14 m/s.     

Phase fluctuations of focused low-frequency sound fields in shallow water

Numerical experiments are carried out to study the phase fluctuations of a focused low-frequency sound field on an oceanic shelf. The focusing of sound at a distance of several kilometers is simulated using the phase conjugation of sound waves. Perturbations of the medium are represented by high-frequency (>1 cph) background internal waves and by the wind waves on the ocean surface. It is shown that, for a focused sound field at frequencies of several hundreds of hertz, the phase fluctuations do not exceed π and can be measured against the background of acoustic noise typical of shallow-water regions of the ocean. The fluctuation magnitude can be reduced approximately by half through the optimal choice of the mode composition. In the presence of such fluctuations, it is possible to measure the relative variations of the length of a stationary acoustic path with an accuracy of 1 m or better at a wind speed no greater than 10 m/s and a typical intensity of background internal waves.     

三维声传播模型BELLHOP3D的信息传递接口并行优化

近些年,我国对海洋不断深入的探索对复杂环境中声场的快速预报提出了越来越高的需求。BELLHOP3D是一种基于射线法的三维声传播计算模型,在海洋声学中应用十分广泛。BELLHOP3D的计算效率比其他常用模型高,但是仍然有非常大的提升空间。该文使用信息传递接口对BELLHOP3D进行粗粒度的并行优化,并行后的程序计算结果稳定可靠,并行效率高,更适合在实际应用中实现快速的声场预报。并行BELLHOP3D程序可以在https://github.com/nj-zyq/BELLHOP3D＿MPI.git下载。     

采用小生境遗传算法反演浅海声速剖面研究

针对浅海声速剖面反演问题,采用小生境遗传算法,结合声线搜索的最快本征声线匹配反演,实现浅海负跃层条件下的声速剖面估计.利用经验正交函数对声速剖面的多参数不确定性降维,依据声场计算模型获取的最快特征声线传播时延与观测声传播时长进行匹配,采用小生境遗传优化算法,获取最优经验正交函数估计,实现声速剖面反演.按上述方法反演处理...     

Application of time reversal to passive acoustic remote sensing of the ocean

This paper investigates a novel approach to processing records of ambient noise in the ocean that are measured concurrently in spatially separated locations. The approach is a synthesis of two well-known phase-coherent signal processing techniques. At the first stage of processing, an approximation to the transient acoustic Green function is found by the method of noise interferometry. At the second stage, the approximate Green function is time reversed and back propagated from the location of one of the receivers, thereby producing a focus in the vicinity of the other receiver. Unlike the earlier work, measurements at just two points (rather than vertical array measurements) are used when the sound-propagation range is large compared to the ocean depth. The requirement for optimal focusing of the back-propagated field is shown to lead to extraction of estimates of the unknown physical parameters of the waveguide and, hence, to passive acoustic remote sensing of the ocean.     

Separation of acoustic modes in the Florida Straits using noise interferometry

We consider separation of acoustic modes in an experiment carried out in the Florida Straits. The features of the approach are separation of modes using data from single hydrophones, not vertical mode arrays, and a passive scheme of noise interferometry in which the source consists of ocean noise. Processing made it possible to reliably separate the first four modes of the acoustic field. The results allow a conclusion on the possible use of this method for shallow-water monitoring under complex hydrological conditions.