Complex reflection phase gradient as an inversion parameter for the prediction of shallow water propagation and the...

In this paper a quantity is proposed, referred to as the complex reflection phase gradient, whose use in a matched field inversion procedure allows for the rapid extraction of first order geo-acoustic information about the sea-bottom. It is based on the observation that at low grazing angles the reflection phase and bottom loss for a wide range of sea-bottom types commonly exhibits an approximate linear relationship to the vertical component of the acoustic wave number at the seabed. The real part of this quantity specifies the rate at which the reflection phase varies with vertical acoustic wave number while the imaginary part quantifies the rate of change of bottom loss. Despite being defined with just two real parameters it is shown that it provides an accurate prediction of the sound field for a wide range of bottom types. In addition, its measurement permits an estimate to be made for the input impedance to the seabed in the zero grazing angle limit and, in the case of a homogeneous elastic half-space of known density, the compressional and shear wave speed. The main advantage of the two-parameter seabottom representation is that each parameter is readily inverted from comparatively few acoustic pressure measurements. The usefulness of the technique is illustrated by the results from computer simulated acoustic pressure measurements made at just eleven sensors in a simple shallow water channel, and results from a 10 cm deep laboratory channel at frequencies between 10 kHz and 75 kHz.