Title :
Breaking waves and their effects on near surface sound speed
Author :
Terrill, Eric ; Melville, Ken
Author_Institution :
Marine Phys. Lab., Scripps Instn. of Oceanogr., San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Abstract :
An autonomous sound speed profiler buoy was built and deployed in the North Atlantic, winter 1993-94, as part of the ASREX (Acoustic Scattering and Reverberation Experiment) experiment. 43 days of data were recovered which includes several short storm cycles (2-3 days each) with 7 storms having sustained winds greater than 15 m/s. Near surface sound speed measurements made in the first 7 meters of the water column reveal large sound speed reductions that are a result of air injection due to breaking waves. The relationship between low frequency sound speed and void fraction of air in water (Wood 1941) make the resulting data useful for both oceanographers and acousticians studying the air-sea interface. A description of the buoy system and a discussion of the data is presented
Keywords :
acoustic variables measurement; acoustic wave velocity; acoustic wave velocity measurement; bubbles; ocean waves; oceanographic equipment; oceanographic regions; oceanographic techniques; underwater sound; AD 1993; AD 1994; ASREX; North Atlantic; acoustic propagation; acoustic velocity; air bubbles; air injection; air-sea interface; breaking waves; buoy system; equipment; instrument; instrumentation; low frequency sound; near surface sound speed; ocean wave breaking; storm; surface layer; underwater sound; void fraction; Acoustic scattering; Acoustic waves; Resonant frequency; Reverberation; Sea surface; Storms; Surface acoustic waves; Surface waves; Velocity measurement; Water;
Conference_Titel :
OCEANS '95. MTS/IEEE. Challenges of Our Changing Global Environment. Conference Proceedings.
Conference_Location :
San Diego, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-933957-14-9
DOI :
10.1109/OCEANS.1995.526756
