Source level of wind-generated ambient sound in the oceana).

Inference of source levels for ambient ocean sound from local wind at the sea surface requires an assumption about the nature of the sound source. Depending upon the assumptions made about the nature of the sound source, whether monopole or dipole distributions, the estimated source levels from different research groups are different by several decibels over the frequency band 10-350 Hz. This paper revisits the research issues of source level of local wind-generated sound and shows that the differences in estimated source levels can be understood through a simple analysis of the source assumptions.

On the limits of distinguishing seabed types via ambient acoustic sound.

This article presents a theoretical analysis of optimally distinguishing among environmental parameters from ocean ambient sound. Recent approaches to this problem either focus on parameter estimation or attempt to classify the environment into one of many known types through machine learning. This classification problem is framed as one of hypothesis testing on the received ambient sound snapshots. The resulting test depends on the Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD) between the distributions corresponding to different environments or sediment types. Analysis of the KLD shows the dependence on the signal-to-noise ratio, the underlying signal subspace, and the distribution of eigenvalues of the respective covariance matrices. This analysis provides insights into both when and why successful hypothesis testing is possible. Experiments demonstrate that our analysis provides insight as to why certain environmental parameters are more difficult to distinguish than others. Experiments on sediment types from the Naval Oceanographic Office Bottom Sediment type database show that certain types are indistinguishable for a given array configuration. Further, the KLD can be used to provide a quantitative alternative to examining bottom loss curves to predict array processing performance.

Cold war era acoustics: Foundational research on ocean ambient noise.

The Reflections series takes a look back on historical articles from The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America that have had a significant impact on the science and practice of acoustics.

Real-time joint ocean acoustics and circulation modeling in the 2021 New England Shelf Break Acoustics experiment (L).

During the spring of 2021, a coordinated multi-vessel effort was organized to study physical oceanography, marine geology and biology, and acoustics on the northeast United States continental shelf, as part of the New England Shelf Break Acoustics (NESBA) experiment. One scientific goal was to establish a real-time numerical model aboard the research vessel with high spatial and temporal resolution to predict the oceanography and sound propagation within the NESBA study area. The real-time forecast model performance and challenges are reported in this letter without adjustment or re-simulation after the cruise. Future research directions for post-experiment studies are also suggested.

Optimal environmental estimation with ocean ambient noise.

This article presents an asymptotically optimal technique for estimating environmental parameters from ocean ambient noise. Noise from wind and breaking waves propagates through the water column and reflects off the bottom over a wide range of angles and frequencies and, in doing so, imparts information about the environment to the noise covariance matrix for a receiver array. Most environmental estimation techniques focus on spatial filtering methods aimed at recovering the vertical noise directionality. However, an often overlooked fact is that the noise covariance matrix fully characterizes the probability density function of each snapshot, which forms the basis for an information-theoretic approach. In this light, it is possible to obtain the theoretical bounds on optimal estimator performance while also providing a basis for assessing the utility of different parameterization schemes. Most importantly, it provides a natural definition for a maximum likelihood estimator that meets the optimal bounds in an asymptotic sense. This technique outperforms beamforming-based methods by a significant margin. It also remains unbiased in the presence of strong white noise, is tolerant to array tilt, can operate beyond the array design frequency, but does suffer greater sensitivity to model mismatch. These trade-offs are explored with simulations and analyses of experimental data.

Head-wave correlations in layered seabed: Theory and modeling.

This paper derives travel times and arrival angles of head-wave correlations from ocean ambient noise in shallow water over a layered seabed. The upcoming and surface reflected head-wave noise signal received at two receivers from the same interface are correlated, and their travel time differences give the travel times of the head-wave correlations. The arrival angle of head-wave correlations from an interface depends on sound speeds in the layers above and just below. The predictions of head-wave correlations from a seabed with two layers and the corresponding inversion results are verified with simulations.

Virtual head waves in ocean ambient noise: Theory and modeling.

The Green's function retrieval in media with horizontal boundaries usually only considers the extraction of direct and reflected waves but ignores the virtual head waves, which have been observed experimentally from ocean ambient noise and used to invert for geometric and environmental parameters. This paper derives the extraction of virtual head waves from ocean ambient noise using a vertically spaced sensor pair in a Pekeris waveguide. Ocean ambient noise in the water column is a superposition of direct, reflected, and head waves. The virtual head waves are produced by the cross-correlations between head waves and either reflected waves or other head waves. The locations of sources that contribute to the virtual head waves are derived based on the method of stationary phase. It is the integration over time of contributions from these sources that makes the virtual head waves observable. The estimation of seabed sound speed with virtual head waves using a vertical line array is also demonstrated. The slope of the virtual head waves is different from that of direct and reflected waves in the virtual source gather; it is therefore possible to constructively stack the virtual head waves. The predictions are verified with simulations.

Inversion of head waves in ocean acoustic ambient noise.

The virtual head wave is produced through cross-correlation processing of signals containing the real, acoustic head wave. The virtual head wave has the same phase speed as the head wave, but the travel time is offset, thus the term virtual. The virtual head wave, like the real head wave, propagates in a direction corresponding to the seabed critical angle. The virtual head wave travel time varies with array depth and water column depth. However, in a refracting environment, the travel time is also dependent on the depth-dependent sound speed profile. Previously, the virtual head wave was shown as observable from measurements of ocean ambient noise, and the arrival angle was used to estimate the seabed sound speed. By also using the virtual head wave travel times, it is possible to invert for array depth and water column depth. The previous analysis was limited to the assumption of a Pekeris waveguide, which is a special case of the more realistic refracting waveguide. In this paper, the virtual head wave and the inversion method are considered in environments having refracting sound speeds. The theoretical framework and the inversion method are presented along with illustrative simulations and application to the Boundary'03 data.

Environmental information content of ocean ambient noise.

In recent years, methods have been developed to estimate a variety of environmental parameters based on measurements of the ocean ambient noise. For example, noise has been used to estimate water depth using the passive fathometer technique and bottom loss estimated and used to invert for seabed parameters. There is also information in the noise about the water column sound speed, volume attenuation, and the sea-state. The Fisher information can be used to quantify the basic information available in the noise measurements and its inverse, the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB), provides the lower limit on the variance of an unbiased estimator of a particular parameter. The CRLB can be used to study the feasibility of various measurement configurations and parameter sensitivities. In this paper, the CRLB is developed for ocean ambient noise and the environmental information contained in the measurements is determined. The CRLBs provide an estimate of the underlying information in the data, however, it is independent of the estimation methodology. This is useful to determine if a given estimation method is reaching the lower bound. Results illustrating the bounds as well as sensitivities and performance of estimators are demonstrated using both simulations and data.

An analysis of beamforming algorithms for passive bottom reflection-loss estimation.

This study provides an argument cautioning against the use of adaptive-beamforming (ABF) techniques in conjunction with a known method for estimating the bottom reflection loss from natural marine ambient noise. This application of ABF has been investigated in the past with rather inconsistent results. Furthermore, no formal proof that ABF algorithms do indeed provide an estimate of the bottom reflection loss is available. This study moves from a recent derivation of the relationship between the bottom reflection coefficient and the Fourier transform of the marine-noise spatial coherence function. The circumstances under which the beamforming operation approximates a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of the spatial coherence function estimated from array data are analyzed. It is shown that, under certain conditions, conventional beamforming is equivalent to directly computing the DFT of the coherence function, as long as some subtle details are properly taken into account. Furthermore, it is shown that ABF cannot be guaranteed, in general, to perform this operation, and therefore provide an estimate of the bottom reflection coefficient. The conclusions are demonstrated on simulated and measured data.

Head waves in ocean acoustic ambient noise: Measurements and modeling.

Seismic interferometry recovers the Green's function between two receivers by cross-correlating the field measured from sources that surround the receivers. In the seismic literature, it has been widely reported that this processing can produce artifacts in the Green's function estimate called "spurious multiples" or the "virtual refracted wave." The spurious multiples are attributed to the head wave and its multiples and travels in the seabed. The head wave phenomenon is shown to be observable from both controlled active sources and from ocean ambient noise and for both vertical and horizontal arrays. The processing used is a generalization of the passive fathometer to produce cross-beam correlations. This passive fathometer is equivalent to the seismic interferometry techniques for delay and sum beamforming but not for adaptive beamforming. Modeling and experimental data show the head wave is observed in ocean noise and can be used to estimate the seabed sound speed.

Passive bottom reflection-loss estimation using ship noise and a vertical line array.

An existing technique for passive bottom-loss estimation from natural marine surface noise (generated by waves and wind) is adapted to use noise generated by ships. The original approach-based on beamforming of the noise field recorded by a vertical line array of hydrophones-is retained; however, additional processing is needed in order for the field generated by a passing ship to show features that are similar to those of the natural surface-noise field. A necessary requisite is that the ship position, relative to the array, varies over as wide a range of steering angles as possible, ideally passing directly over the array to ensure coverage of the steepest angles. The methodology is illustrated through simulation and applied to data from a field experiment conducted offshore of San Diego, CA in 2009.

Single-sensor, cue-counting population density estimation: Average probability of detection of broadband clicks.

Odontocete echolocation clicks have been used as a preferred cue for density estimation using single-sensor data sets, requiring estimation of detection probability as a function of range. Many such clicks can be very broadband in nature, with 10-dB bandwidths of 20-40 kHz or more. Detection distances are not readily obtained from single-sensor data. Here, the average detection probability is estimated in a Monte Carlo simulation using the passive sonar equation along with transmission loss calculations to estimate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of tens of thousands of click realizations. Continuous-wave (CW) analysis, i.e., single-frequency analysis, is inherent to basic forms of the passive sonar equation. Using CW analysis with the click's center frequency while disregarding its bandwidth has been shown to introduce bias into detection probabilities and hence to density estimates. In this study, the effects of highly broadband clicks on density estimates are further examined. The usage of transmission loss as an appropriate measure for calculating click SNR is also discussed. The main contributions from this research are (1) an alternative approach to estimate the average probability of detection of broadband clicks, and (2) understanding the effects of multipath clicks on population density estimates.

Frequency based noise coherence-function extension and application to passive bottom-loss estimation.

Accurate modeling of acoustic propagation in the ocean waveguide is important to SONAR-performance prediction. Particularly in shallow waters, a crucial contribution to the total transmission loss is the bottom refection loss, which can be estimated passively by beamforming the natural surface-noise acoustic field recorded by a vertical line array of hydrophones. However, the performance in this task of arrays below 2 m of length is problematic for frequencies below 10 kHz It is shown in this paper that, when the data are free of interference from sources other than wind and wave surface noise, data from a shorter array can be used to approximate the coherence function of a longer array. This improves the angular resolution of the estimated bottom loss, often making use of data at frequencies above the array design frequency. Application to simulated and experimental data shows that the technique, rigorously justified for a halfspace bottom, is effective also on more complex bottom types. Dispensing with active sources, small autonomous underwater vehicles equipped with short arrays can be envisioned as compact, efficient seabed-characterization systems. The proposed technique is shown to improve significantly the reflection-loss estimate of an array that would be a candidate for such application.

Head wave correlations in ambient noise.

Ambient ocean noise is processed with a vertical line array to reveal coherent time-separated arrivals suggesting the presence of head wave multipath propagation. Head waves, which are critically propagating water waves created by seabed waves traveling parallel to the water-sediment interface, can propagate faster than water-only waves. Such eigenrays are much weaker than water-only eigenrays, and are often completely overshadowed by them. Surface-generated noise is different whereby it amplifies the coherence between head waves and critically propagating water-only waves, which is measured by cross-correlating critically steered beams. This phenomenon is demonstrated both experimentally and with a full wave simulation.

Performance metrics for depth-based signal separation using deep vertical line arrays.

A recent publication by McCargar and Zurk [(2013). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 133(4), EL320-EL325] introduced a modified Fourier transform-based method for passive source depth estimation using vertical line arrays deployed below the critical depth in the deep ocean. This method utilizes the depth-dependent modulation caused by the interference between the direct and surface-reflected acoustic arrivals, the observation of which is enhanced by propagation through the reliable acoustic path. However, neither the performance of this method nor its limits of applicability have yet been thoroughly investigated. This paper addresses both of these issues; the first by identifying and analyzing the factors that influence the resolution and ambiguity in the transform-based depth estimate; the second by introducing another, much simpler depth estimation method, which is used to determine the target trajectories required for observation of the interference pattern and the array requirements for accurate depth estimation.

A computational method to predict and study underwater noise due to pile driving.

A hybrid modeling approach that uses the parabolic equation (PE) with an empirical source model is presented to study and predict the underwater noise due to pile driving in shallow, inhomogeneous environments over long propagation ranges. The empirical source model uses a phased point source array to simulate the time-dependent pile source. The pile source is coupled with a broadband application of a PE wave propagation model that includes range dependent geoacoustic properties and bathymetry. Simulation results are shown to be in good agreement with several acoustic observations of pile driving in the Columbia River between Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA. The model is further applied to predict sound levels in the Columbia River and study the effects of variable bathymetry and sediment configurations on underwater sound levels.

A two-hydrophone range and bearing localization algorithm with performance analysis.

An automated, passive algorithm for detecting and localizing small boats using two hydrophones mounted on the seabed is outlined. This extends previous work by Gebbie et al. [(2013). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 134, EL77 - EL83] in which a similar two-hydrophone approach is used to produce an ambiguity surface of likely target locations leveraging multipath analysis and knowledge of the local bathymetry. The work presented here improves upon the prior approach using particle filtering to automate detection and localization processing. A detailed analysis has also been conducted to determine the conditions and limits under which the improved approach can be expected to yield accurate range and unambiguous bearing information. Experimental results in 12 m of water allow for a comparison of different separation distances between hydrophones, and the Bayesian Cramér-Rao lower bound is used to extrapolate the performance expected in 120 m water. This work demonstrates the conditions under which a low cost, passive, sparse array of hydrophones can provide a meaningful small boat detection and localization capability.

High-resolution bottom-loss estimation using the ambient-noise vertical coherence function.

The seabed reflection loss (shortly "bottom loss") is an important quantity for predicting transmission loss in the ocean. A recent passive technique for estimating the bottom loss as a function of frequency and grazing angle exploits marine ambient noise (originating at the surface from breaking waves, wind, and rain) as an acoustic source. Conventional beamforming of the noise field at a vertical line array of hydrophones is a fundamental step in this technique, and the beamformer resolution in grazing angle affects the quality of the estimated bottom loss. Implementation of this technique with short arrays can be hindered by their inherently poor angular resolution. This paper presents a derivation of the bottom reflection coefficient from the ambient-noise spatial coherence function, and a technique based on this derivation for obtaining higher angular resolution bottom-loss estimates. The technique, which exploits the (approximate) spatial stationarity of the ambient-noise spatial coherence function, is demonstrated on both simulated and experimental data.

Geoacoustic inversion of ship radiated noise in shallow water using data from a single hydrophone.

The Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation conducted a geoacoustic inverse experiment in the Mediterranean Sea in the summer of 2012. Among the objectives was to employ an autonomous underwater vehicle to collect acoustic data to invert for properties of the seafloor. Inversion results for the compression wave speed in the bottom and the source spectrum of the R/V Alliance during a close approach to the bottom moored vehicle are presented. The estimated wave speed was 1529 m/s (σ=10). The source spectrum of the Alliance was estimated across more than six octaves of frequency.