Deepwater acoustic propagation in the northern Philippine Sea: Comparison of modeled and observed ray travel times. Free

This presentation will report on comparisons between ray travel times computed in a model and observations in the Northern Philippine Sea (NPS). The model is the MITgcm, configured with 50 vertical levels and 1/12 deg resolution in a domain covering 17–27 deg north and from the western boundary to 140 deg East. It is forced by surface fluxes from NCEP and NOGAPS products, and assimilated HYCOM 1/12 deg output is used for initial and boundary conditions. Sound speed profiles taken from the model will be compared to those from climatologies and from Argo floats in the region. Ray arrival times calculated using the time evolution of the model over several years will be calculated. The arrival pattern and its variability will be compared to observations and to calculations in climatologies. Ray arrival and ray path stability will be analyzed to assess the utility of travel time measurements for estimating ocean structure. This is a step in preparation for a model‐based analysis of the NPS.