Fundamentals of Shallow Water Acoustics [Paperback]

Shallow water acoustics (SWA), the study of how low and medium frequency sound propagates and scatters on the continental shelves of the worlds oceans, has both technical interest and a large number of practical applications. Technically, shallow water poses an interesting medium for the study of acoustic scattering, inverse theory, and propagation physics in a complicated oceanic waveguide. Practically, shallow water acoustics has interest for geophysical exploration, marine mammal studies, and naval applications. Additionally, one notes the very interdisciplinary nature of shallow water acoustics, including acoustical physics, physical oceanography, marine geology, and marine biology. In this specialized volume the authors, all of whom have extensive at-sea experience in US and Russian research efforts, have tried to summarize the main experimental, theoretical, and computational results in shallow water acoustics, with an emphasis on providing physical insight into the topics presented.Written by experts with extensive at-sea experience, this interdisciplinary book summarizes recent experimental, theoretical, and computational results in shallow water acoustics, with an emphasis on providing physical insight into the topics presented.Table of Contents.- Preface.- 1. What is shallow water acoustics?.- 1.1. Deep versus shallow.- 1.2 Past and Present of shallow water acoustics.- 1.3 The future of shallow water acoustics.- 1.4 Some old favorite research areas revisited and updated.- 2. Coastal Oceanography, Geology, and Biology.- 2.1. The coast as acoustic waveguide.- 2.2. Properties of sea water: Vertical stratification and its seasonal variability.- 2.3. Horizontal stratification and its variability: Fronts and eddies, surface ducts and storm surges.- 2.4 Dynamics of the ocean surface: Surface waves.- 2.5. Dynamical processes inside the ocean: Tides and internal waves.- 2.6. Experimental studies of coastal internal waves.- 2.7. Coastal Geology and Geophysics.- 2.lƒ¸