Extracting coherent wave fronts from acoustic ambient noise in the ocean

A method to obtain coherent acoustic wave fronts by measuring the space–time correlation function of ocean noise between two hydrophones is experimentally demonstrated. Though the sources of ocean noise are uncorrelated, the time-averaged noise correlation function exhibits deterministic waveguide arrival structure embedded in the time-domain Green’s function. A theoretical approach is derived for both volume and surface noise sources. Shipping noise is also investigated and simulated results are presented in deep or shallow water configurations. The data of opportunity used to demonstrate the extraction of wave fronts from ocean noise were taken from the synchronized vertical receive arrays used in the frame of the North Pacific Laboratory ~NPAL! during time intervals when no source was transmitting. © 2004 Acoustical Society of America. @DOI: 10.1121/1.1797754#