Comparison of transport theory predictions with measurements of the decrease in shallow water reverberation level as the sea state increases

Transport theory has been developed for modeling shallow water propagation and reverberation at mid frequencies (1-10 kHz) where forward scattering from a rough sea surface is taken into account in a computationally efficient manner. The method is based on a decomposition of the field in terms of unperturbed modes, and forward scattering at the sea surface leads to mode coupling that is treated with perturbation theory. Reverberation measurements made during ASIAEX in 2001 provide a useful test of transport theory predictions. Modeling indicates that the measured reverberation was dominated by bottom reverberation, and the reverberation level at 1 and 2 kHz was observed to decrease as the sea surface conditions increased from a low sea state to a higher sea state. This suggests that surface forward scattering was responsible for the change in reverberation level. By modeling the difference in reverberation as the sea state changes, the sensitivity to environmental conditions other than the sea surface roughness is much reduced. Transport theory predictions for the reverberation difference are found to be in good agreement with measurements.