Mohsen Badiey
Univ. of Delaware, Graduate College of Marine Studies, Newark, DE 19716
Indra Jaya
Mark Pulaski
Alex Cheng
University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716
Shallow water acoustic experiments were conducted at the Atlantic Generating Station (AGS) Site on the New Jersey Continental Shelf as a part of a long-term study of the shallow water physics in this region. A vertical hydrophone array was used to assess the dispersion characteristics of a broadband acoustic field. A geoacoustic data set and bottom impedance profiles were constructed based on previous measurements of geological parameters from sediment core data. Experimental results show that the acoustic wave field dispersion is dependent on the azimuth. This dependency may be attributed to several factors relating to topography and range and depth features. Empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) were used to decompose the acoustic normal modes. A preliminary discussion of simulation results and the sediment layering effects on the features of the acoustic normal modes and the corresponding group and phase velocities associated with each mode will be given in connection with the experiment. [sup a)]Present address: Office of Naval Research, Ocean Acoustics program Code 324OA, 800 North Quincy St., Arlington, VA 22217-5000.