L.G. Guimarães, lula@if.ufrj.br
Instituto de Física, UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
C.E. Parenteparente@peno.coppe.ufrj.br
PENO/COPPE - UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
S.M. Jesus sjesus@ualg.pt
O.C. Rodríguez orodrig@ualg.pt
Instituto de Sistemas e Robótica, Universidade do Algarve,
Campus de Gambelas, PT-8005-139 Faro, Portugal.
Comments: no download .
Ref.: in Proc. in American Geophysical Union, Meeting of the Americas, Iguassu Falls,
Brazil, August 2010 (poster).
Abstract:
The sound is a powerful tool to acquire information about fundamental physical parameters of the ocean environment.
However, the ocean is a very dynamical complex natural system, where the sound speed is an increasing function of
salinity, pressure and temperature such that the ocean behaves an acoustic wave guide, where the sound speed and
the water bodies play the same role as the refraction index and lens in optics (Jensen, 1994). Here we analyze
the acoustic propagation features related to the problem of the Mediterranean outflow in the North Atlantic
(Darras, 1991). In the present case related to data of the Southwest Coast of Portugal, we try to explain some
of these features based on the ray tracing framework and the normal modes theory applied to sound propagation
in deep water. To this end, we show that the sound speed profile behaves as strong coupled double channel system.
References:
Darras, J. M.,et. al, 1991, Deep hydrographic fluctuations in the North East Atlantic outflow: Influence
on acoustic propagation, Ocean variability and Acoustic propagation, J. Potter & A. Warn-Varnas Eds, Kluwer, 375-390.
Jensen, F. B., W. A. Kuperman, M. B. Porter, and H. Schmidt, 1994, Computational ocean acoustics: American Institute of
Physics Press.