ASA | Acoustical Oceanography

SCOPE OF ACOUSTICAL OCEANOGRAPHY TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

The Acoustical Oceanography Technical Committee is responsible for representing and fostering Acoustical Oceanography within the Acoustical Society of America.

It is concerned with the development and use of acoustical techniques to measure and understand the physical, biological, geological and chemical parameters and processes of the sea.

Acoustical Methods
Several acoustical methods are used to study various of oceanographic
processes, especially to measure associated parameters.

Some of the processes subject to acoustical investigation are:

• Biological Oceanography

Detection, classification, and quantification of marine organisms
Habitat characterization

• Chemical Oceanography

Variations in ocean chemistry
(e.g., via frequency dependent absorption measurements)

• Geological Oceanography

Seafloor properties, both surficial and internal
Sediment suspension and transport
Underwater acoustic observations of earthquakes

• Physical oceanography

Air-sea interactions, e.g., air bubbles
Turbulence and mixing
Ocean surface waves
Internal waves
Solitary waves
Fronts
Circulation, e.g., mesoscale, gyre, and basin-scale dynamics
Salinity and temperature structures

Approaches include:

•   ocean parameter estimation by acoustical methods
•   remote sensing by active acoustic means
•   acoustic imaging, inversion, and tomography
•   developing acoustical instrumentation for oceanographic studies