Detection and Resolvability of Pulsed Acoustic Signals Through the South China Sea Basin: A Modeling Analysis

Sponsored by the office of Naval Research (ONR), the Windy Islands Soliton Experiment (WISE) is designed to measure acoustic propagation and physical oceanography commencing April 2005-2006. As part of this experiment, two deep water moorings with acoustic transceivers (source-receiver combinations) will be placed in the South China Sea deep basin 160 km apart. These transceivers will transmit and receive phase-modulated signals (pulses after signal processing) over the year attempting to (1) capture multi-scale variability in transmission loss and (2) examine the progression of internal tides within the basin through tomographic inverse techniques. Acoustic arrival structure modeling was conducted to discern whether a detectable and resolvable signal was to be expected and for signal design. Using a stochastic inverse approach, the inversion was used to determine vertical structure, spatial resolution, and uncertainty associated with the tomographic mapping of the internal tide.