Obtaining the ocean index of refraction spectrum from the acoustic amplitude fluctuations

Abstract

The feasibility of using acoustic measurements to determine the properties of a shallow water internal wave field is investigated through numerical simulations. The random intemal wave field is modeled by a generalized Garrett-Munk spectrum. The goal of the inversion is to recover the characteristic mode number, energy level and power-laws associated with the model. A hierarchy of inversion strategies is considered. Results from numerical simulations are presented together with a discussion of the remaining theoretical challenges.