ASA 127th Meeting M.I.T. 1994 June 6-10

2aUW2. Experimental design for acoustic thermometry of ocean climate (ATOC).

Robert C. Spindel

Bruce Howe

Appl. Phys. Lab., Univ. of Washington, 1013 NE 40th St., Seattle, WA 98105

Peter F. Worcester

Scripps Inst. of Oceanogr., La Jolla, CA 92093

The ATOC demonstration experiment involves the installation of two fixed acoustic sources, one near Hawaii and the other near Pt. Sur, California, the instrumentation of several Navy receiver systems in the North Pacific, and the deployment of autonomous and cabled-to-short vertical arrays. Extension of the experiment to other oceans may require the installation of eight to ten additional sources and as many as 40 receivers. In this paper the ATOC network and site selection criteria are described for the demonstration phase as well as for its extension, the design of the sources and receivers to be used for the demonstration phase, and the technologies currently being considered for long-term, world-wide use.