Charles L. Monjo
Hien B. Nguyen
Neil J. Williams
Harry A. Deferrari
Appl. Marine Phys., RSMAS, Univ. of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy., Miami, FL 33149
Preliminary results from a surface reverberation experiment that was
performed in the North Atlantic Ocean during the winter of 1993--94 will be
presented. Observations of acoustic backscatter from the ocean surface were
made from a moored vertical array at frequencies ranging from 100 to 800 Hz at
12-min intervals during a 3-month period. Simultaneous measurements were made
by other investigators (from SIO, WHOI, and IOS-BC, Canada) of a variety of
environmental parameters, including wind speed and direction, wave spectra, air
and sea temperature and current fields, and the presence and nature of bubble
clouds were observed with devices that detected anomalies in the near surface
sound speed and using high-frequency side scan sonars. Variation of
backscattering strengths with changes in the environment will be presented and
comparisons with results from other recent observations [P. M. Ogden and F. T.
Erskine,