Sea-bed acoustic parameters from dispersion analysis and transmission loss in the East China Sea

As a part of the Asian Seas International Acoustic Experiment (ASIAEX) in the East China Sea, sound propagation signals from wideband explosive sources were measured using a 32-element vertical line array. Measurements were made as a function of range in two perpendicular tracks. Sea-bed geoacoustic parameters based on a fluid half-space geoacoustic model (sound speed, density, and attenuation) are inverted from the sound propagation in the frequency range 100-500 Hz. The sea-bed sound speed and density were first derived from mode arrival time differences which were obtained using a spatial mode filtering technique. Sea-bed acoustic attenuation was subsequently estimated by comparing measured transmission loss with model results.