Delta-k acoustic sensing of ocean surface waves

Details

• Personal Author:
  Palmer, A. Jay ; Trevorrow, M. V.
• Corporate Authors:
  Environmental Technology Laboratory (Environmental Research Laboratories). ; Institute for Ocean Sciences.
• NOAA Program & Office:
  OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
• Description:
  A high-frequency acoustic method for measuring ocean directional wave spectra is put forward. The method is termed Ak-acoustics and is analogous to the Ak-radar and Ak-lidar techniques for measuring ocean directional wave spectra. Significant practical differences between high-frequency Ak-acoustics and Ak-radar are quantified. The most important of these differences is the ability of high-frequency Ak-acoustics to measure the orbital velocity of a surface wave when scattering from subsurface scattering elements such as air bubbles. Experimental measurements of coherent high-frequency acoustic backscatter from ocean surface-wave-induced advection of bubble clouds are shown to support the proposed Ak-acoustic method. Results of an open-ocean experiment designed to demonstrate the Ak-acoustic method are reported. The failure to see a Ak resonance line was traced to unfavorable wind direction during the experiment.
• Keywords:
  Acoustic Surface Waves Measurement Ocean Wave Power Acoustic Surface Waves Ocean Wave Power
• Series:
  NOAA technical memorandum ERL ETL   280
• Format:
  PDF
• Document Type:
  Technical Memorandum
• License:
  https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
• Rights Information:
  CC0 Public Domain
• Compliance:
  Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:c14f5f94300d3a2ae27f170e8338d32ffe77f0f99ba5c1a121a9fb8989383d30
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/55628/noaa_55628_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.48 MB ]