Inversion for Geoacoustic Model Parameters in Range-Dependent Shallow Water Environments from the SW06 Experiment

The ability to predict sound propagation in shallow water is limited by the knowledge of the geoacoustic properties of the ocean bottom. The long term goals of this research are: (1) to develop full field inversion methods for estimating parameters of geoacoustic models of the ocean bottom and the associated uncertainties in the model parameter values; and (2) to evaluate the performance of the geoacoustic inversion techniques for applications over a broad frequency band in range dependent shallow water environments. This work is set within the wider context of research to understand the interaction of sound with the ocean bottom and determine the critical geoacoustic parameters that affect sound transmission in shallow water.