Laboratory and Field Studies of the Acoustics of Multiphase Ocean Bottom Materials

The long-term scientific objective of this project is to increase our understanding of sound propagation in ocean bottom sediments, including water-saturated sands and muds, gas-bearing sands and muds, and sediments which support seagrass. This in turn benefits buried object detection, sonar operation and acoustic communications in shallow water. The proposed study includes continued analysis of data collected during Shallow Water 06 (SW06), development of apparatus and procedures for propagation and sediment studies for the next planned shallow water experiment (referred to herein as SW12) and continued laboratory studies of the acoustics of the multiphase sediment materials mentioned above. Another goal for the out years is to develop techniques and apparatus for in situ classification of ocean bottoms for Naval fleet operations.