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Estimating temperature and current using a pair of transceivers in a harbor environment
Chen-Fen Huang1, Naokazu Taniguchi1, Yen-Hsiang Chen2
1Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan chenfen@ntu.edu.tw, naokazutaniguchi@gmail.com.
This study shows acoustic signals can measure underwater temperature and currents in harbors. Multipath acoustic propagation effectively estimates spatial variations, similar to direct measurements.
Area of Science:
- Oceanography
- Acoustics
- Environmental Monitoring
Background:
- Measuring horizontal temperature and current variations typically requires multiple acoustic transceivers.
- Harbor environments present challenges due to reverberation, complicating acoustic measurements.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the feasibility of using a simple pair of transceivers in a reverberant harbor.
- To extract spatial water information (temperature and current) using multipath acoustic propagation.
Main Methods:
- Deployed a pair of transceivers in a highly-reverberant harbor.
- Analyzed pulse responses, focusing on direct and harbor-side reflected acoustic arrivals.
- Compared path-averaged acoustic measurements with direct point measurements.
Main Results:
- Observed distinct direct and reflected acoustic arrival groups during flood tide.
- Path-averaged acoustic measurements exhibited similar temporal trends to direct measurements.
- Demonstrated the potential for estimating spatial variations in temperature and current.
Conclusions:
- A pair of transceivers can extract spatial oceanographic data in reverberant environments.
- Multipath acoustic propagation is a viable method for inferring temperature and current fields.
- This technique offers a simpler alternative to traditional multi-transceiver setups.
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