14: The Impact of Very High Frequency Surface Reverberation on Coherent Acosutic Propagation Modeling

The scattering of sound from the sea surface is important for the operation of underwater sonar and underwater acoustic communications systems. Studies of low to mid-frequency surface reverberation have a long history, but studies of very high frequency (>300 kHz) surface scattering in the literature are rare. The physics of very high frequency (VHF) scattering is expected to be strongly dependent on wind speed, which controls surface roughness and wave breaking, which inject bubbles into the ocean. The amplitude, Doppler spread and temporal coherence of VHF scattering is important for the performance of high frequency sonars and underwater communications systems in operating scenarios where energy from the sea surface cannot be screened.