Sound scattering from oceanic turbulence - Chaos or critters?

ISBN-13: 9783639113259 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 120 str.

Tetjana Ross

Opis

Despite relatively long-standing theoretical models for sound scattering from oceanic turbulence, many oceanographers continue to deny its existence. Following my dissertation work, it can no longer be denied. Herein is the first data that unambiguously correlates strong acoustic scatter with turbulent temperature fluctuations in the ocean. An important consequence of this work is that, at least under some circumstances, it is possible to invert acoustic data to measure turbulent dissipation rates-a first step to remotely sensing turbulent mixing. Another consequence of this is that turbulent scatter can be strong enough that acoustic surveys done in turbulent areas (such as the biologically productive ocean surface mixing layer) could be overestimating plankton stocks by as much as an order of magnitude. In spite of the potential for confounding the scattering from turbulence with that from zooplankton, zooplankton and turbulence can be observed simultaneously with a single sounder. The different natures of the two targets, discrete animal targets versus volume scattering for turbulence, allow them to be distinguished. The key is sampling the same targets at multiple ranges.

O autorze

Tetjana completed her Ph.D in Ocean Physics at the University of
Victoria (Canada) in
2003. After a stint as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic
Institution (USA), she moved to Halifax where she now lives with her
husband and daughter (pictured with the author). She is an
Assistant Professor at
Dalhousie University.