Generalized Environmental Acoustic Model Structure for Bottom Backscatter

Existing OAML-approved active acoustic models are under continuous evolution to take advantage of new theoretical and numerical developments and more powerful computational resources. These models are supported by OAML-approved environmental databases that are also constantly updated to accommodate the newly developed models and recent measurements throughout the world. The databases that describe the bottom include the Digital Bathymetric Data Base (DBDBV) multi-resolution bathymetric databases, the Low-Frequency Bottom Loss (LFBL) database, the Bottom Sediment Type (BST) database, and the Bottom Backscattering Strength (BBS) database. Recent physics based research on coupled scattering mechanisms and physics-based clutter as functions of the bottom’s geoacoustic parameters and bathymetry have offered the opportunity for a wholly new approach to developing a prototype generalized bottom database. This approach is based on understanding and describing the underlying physical mechanisms of reverberation and clutter (including bistatic geometries), and provides the ability to harness and integrate the information from the existing databases and new measurement techniques into a generalized bottom database. This database would furnish physics-based and/or empirical bottom parameters to model undersea acoustic propagation, deterministic bottom reverberation and stochastic clutter for emulation of false alarms.