The intensity coherence function of time for partially saturated acoustic propagation through ocean internal waves

The intensity coherence function of time for partially saturated acoustic propagation through internal waves is calculated with a method that is improved over previous treatments. Two specific improvements are introduced: the usual expansion in (1/lambdaphi2) is carried out to a higher order, and then the terms of that expansion are calculated with a new perturbative method. The method is applied to propagation without a sound channel, for both phase-screen and continuous-medium cases. The validity of the new perturbative method is estimated by calculating the next order error terms. Accuracies at the few-percent level are found. The new analytic formulas are also corroborated with numerical integration. Finally, the method is applied to a specific ocean-acoustic experiment [Azores Fixed Acoustic Range (AFAR)]. In order to achieve good agreement with experiment it will be necessary to add an accurate treatment of the sound channel to the present perturbation method.