Sediment-activation depth values for gentle and steep beaches

This paper analyzes methods and terminologies used in literature for the determination and characterization of vertical distribution of sediment-activation depth, which is bottom sediment layer affected by hydrodynamic processes. Studies on this topic include assessments carried out during short time spans, from minutes to few hours or longer periods, from a tidal cycle to several days. In the first case, activation is generally named “mixing depth” and is calculated by evaluating vertical distribution of fluorescent tracers. In the second case, it is referred to as “disturbance depth” and is generally evaluated using plugs of marked sand and rods, or rods with a loose-fitting washer. Vertical cross and longshore distribution of mixing and disturbance depth values, recorded in different works with different techniques, were also analyzed highlighting the conceptual differences between used methods and obtained results. In a further step, a data set from literature on this topic was gathered to obtain new formulations between disturbance depth and beach and wave characteristics as well as morphodynamic beach state, expressed throughout the surf scaling parameter and the surf similarity index. Good linear regressions were observed between these variables, obtaining expressions that can be easily used in a wide range of beach states, from dissipative and intermediate to reflective ones.     

An Iterative Equalization and Decoding Approach for Underwater Acoustic Communication

In this paper, we present an iterative approach for recovering information sent over a shallow underwater acoustic (UWA) communication channel. The procedure has three main tasks: estimation of channel model parameters (CMPs), channel equalization, and decoding. These tasks are performed cyclicly until the algorithm converges. Information bits are convolutionally encoded, punctured and permuted, mapped into quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK) symbols, linearly modulated, and transmitted through a downward-refracting ocean waveguide. Training symbols are prepended to the transmitted sequence for initial estimation of CMPs. Our algorithm processes data from a single receive sensor. Data are received on a vertical array and the performance of the algorithm for each sensor in the array is examined. There is negligible Doppler spread in the received data. However, difference between transmitter and receiver clocks as well as slight motion of the receive array produce a nonnegligible compression of the received signals. Consequently, there is observable Doppler “shift.” Nonuniform resampling of the data produces time series we model as the output of a linear time-invariant system. Resampling and CMP estimation are done iteratively, in conjunction with equalization and decoding. The algorithm successfully processes the data to yield few or no information bit errors.      

Experimental investigation of bubble dynamics near the bilge with a circular opening

Highly dependent on boundary conditions, the behaviors of underwater explosion (UNDEX) bubbles would be quite unusual near boundaries that are discontinuous with abrupt changes in shape, e.g. ship structures that have already been deformed by previous attacks. The oscillation features of the UNDEX bubble near the bilge with a circular opening representing previous deformation are studied experimentally with electric-spark-generated bubbles and high-speed photographing. The bubble behaviors are found highly dependent on two non-dimensional variables, D and Φ, representing the opening-bubble distance and the opening diameter, respectively. Seven distinctive oscillation scenarios are summarized from 180 experiments, namely the ‘rim-constrained oscillation’, the ‘inward jet’, the ‘outward jet’, the ‘bump and dimple’, the ‘quasi-spherical oscillation’, the ‘spherical oscillation with jet’ and the ‘spherical oscillation without jet’. The occurrence domains of the scenarios are identified as functions of D and Φ. Significantly affected by the opening, the bubble behaviors are quite different from that near a non-opening bilge; the bubble jet might not be formed, or even develop from inside the bilge, which indicates that the bubble load on the bilge should be re-evaluated. Finally the speeds, initiation time and displacements of the jets in different scenarios are measured and noticeable variation trends are found.     

气泵法生成气泡帷幕的特性研究

气泡帷幕在水下噪声抑制方面有非常广泛的应用。为了更好地利用气泡帷幕的衰减特性,在实验室水槽设备中采用气泵法产生气泡帷幕,通过对不同深度、气流量接收信号的时频分析,利用共振谱法对气泡分布进行反演。研究表明:(1)气泡的分布可以利用高斯分布近似描述。(2)随着深度增加,气泡含量也有略微增加。(3)气泵法产生的气泡帷幕的气流量大小对衰减的峰值所在的频段基本没有影响,但气流量的改变会影响声波衰减的强弱,气流量大的情况下,气泡帷幕对声波衰减效果更强。通过掌握气泵法生成气泡帷幕中气泡的分布规律,可以有效指导气泡帷幕的设计。     

The evaluation method of total damage to ship in underwater explosion

Whipping response will happen when a ship is subjected to underwater explosion bubble load. In that condition, the hull would be broken, and even the survivability will be completely lost. A calculation method on the dynamic bending moment of bubble has been put forward in this paper to evaluate the impact of underwater explosion bubble load on the longitudinal strength of surface ships. Meanwhile the prediction equation of bubble dynamic bending moment has been concluded with the results of numerical simulation. With wave effect taken into consideration, the evaluation method of the total damage of a ship has been established. The precision of this evaluation method has been proved through the comparison with calculation results. In order to verify the validity of the calculation results, experimental data of real ship explosion is applied. Prediction equation and evaluation method proposed in this paper are to be used in ship structure design, especially in the preliminary prediction of the ultimate withstanding capability of underwater explosion damage for the integrated ship in preliminary design phase.     

Using the acoustic-pulse conservation law in estimating the energy of surface acoustic sources by remote sounding

The atmospheric effect on the characteristics of infrasonic signals from explosions has been studied. New methods have been proposed to remotely estimate the energy of explosions using the data of infrasonic wave registration. One method is based on the law of conservation of acoustic pulse I, which is equal to the product of the wave profile area S/2 of the studied infrasonic signal and the distance to the source E_I [kt] = 1.38 × 10^–10 (I [kg/s])^1.482. The second method is based on the relationship between the explosion energy and the dominant period T of the recorded signal, EТ [kt] =1.02 × (Т [s]²/σ)^3/2, where σ is a dimensionless distance used for determining the degree of manifestation of nonlinear effects in the propagation of sound along ray trajectories. When compared to the conventional E_W (Whitaker’s) relation, the advantage of the EI relation is that it can be used for pulsed sources located at an arbitrary height over the land surface and having an arbitrary form of the initial-pulse profile and for any type of infrasonic arrivals. A distinctive feature of the expression for E_Т is that the atmospheric effect on the characteristics of recorded infrasonic signals is explicitly taken into account. These methods have been tested using infrasonic data recorded at a distance of 322 km from the sources (30 explosions caused by a fire that occurred at the Pugachevo armory in Udmurtia on June 2, 2011). For the same explosion, empirical relations have been found between energy values obtained by different methods: E_I = 1.107 × E _W , E _Т = 2.201 × E _I .     

Infrasound scattering from atmospheric anisotropic inhomogeneities

A model of anisotropic fluctuations forming in wind velocity and air temperature in a stably stratified atmosphere is described. The formation mechanism of these fluctuations is associated with the cascade transport of energy from sources of atmospheric gravity waves to wave disturbances with shorter vertical scales (than the scales of the initial disturbances generated by the sources) and, at the same time, with longer horizontal scales. This model is used to take into account the effects of infrasonic-wave scattering from anisotropic inhomogeneities of the effective sound speed in the atmosphere. Experimental data on the stratospheric, mesospheric, and thermospheric arrivals of signals (generated by explosion sources such as surface explosions and volcanoes) in the zones of acoustic shadow are interpreted on the basis of the results of calculations of the scattered infrasonic field in the context of the parabolic equation. The signals calculated with consideration for the fine structure of wind velocity and air temperature are compared with the signals observed in a shadow zone. The possibility to acoustically sound this structure at heights of both the middle and upper atmospheres is discussed.     

Experiments investigating the use of fiber-optic probes formeasuring bubble-size distributions

An experimental investigation was conducted in the laboratory in order to evaluate the use of fiber-optic probes for measuring the size distribution of large transient bubbles entrained beneath breaking ocean waves. Measurements were made in a unidirectional flow cell using two-fiber Optoflow fiber-optic probes (Photonetics Inc.). It was found that the rise times of the signal pulses created when bubbles crossed the probe tip were closely correlated with the bubble velocities. Therefore, bubble velocities and hence bubble sizes could be estimated using a single probe. It was observed that the correlation between the rise time and the bubble velocity varied significantly between probes but was only a weak function of water type (i.e., freshwater or seawater) and the bubble impaction angle. Estimates of the bubble-size distributions and void fraction made using the fiber-optic probes and video image data were compared. It was found that the fiber-optic probes could be used to obtain fairly accurate estimates of the void fraction. The bubble-size distributions estimated from the probe signals compared favorably with those estimated from video images. It was concluded that the probes could be used to make reasonably accurate measurements of the bubble-size distributions beneath breaking ocean waves     

Acoustic bubble counting technique using sound speed extracted fromsound attenuation

Sound attenuation has been solely used to estimate bubble size distributions of bubbly water in the conventional acoustic bubble sizing methods. These conventional methods are useful for the void fraction around 10^-6 or lower. However, the change of compressibility in the bubbly water also should be considered in bubble sizing for the void fraction around 10^-5 or higher. Recently the sound speed as well as sound attenuation was considered for acoustic bubble size estimation in bubbly water. In this paper, the sound speed estimated from sound attenuation in bubbly water by an iterative method is used for a bubble counting. This new iterative inverse bubble sizing technique is numerically tested for bubble distributions of single-size Gaussian, and power-law functions. The numerical simulation results are in agreement with the given bubble distributions even for the high void fractions of 10^-4-10^-3. It suggests that the iterative inverse technique can be a very powerful tool for practical use in acoustic bubble counting in the ocean     

Age of settlement and accumulation rate of submarine “coralligène” (−10 to −60 m) of the northwestern Mediterranean Sea; relation to Holocene rise in sea level

Morphological and chronological studies have been carried out on coralline algal buildups (“coralligène”) situated between 10 and 60 m depth near Marseilles, and in Corsica (France). Despite the presence of occasionally sizeable quantities of iron hydroxide, these constructions prove to be a reliable material for radiocarbon dating. Ages obtained using this method range from 640±120 yrs B.P. (Corsica, Scandola Natural Reserve, −15 m) to 7760±80 yrs B.P. (Marseilles, Grand Congloue, −52 m). Internal erosion surfaces within the buildups give evidence of discontinuous development. The accumulation rate of the coralligène constructions is very low (0.006–0.83 mm yr⁻¹ according to the depth and time period). The higher values (0.53–0.83 mm yr⁻¹) were recorded for the deeper constructions. They correspond to a period between 8000 and 6000 yrs B.P. After 6000 yrs B.P., the only appreciable accumulation rates (0.11–0.42 mm yr⁻¹) were recorded for constructions situated between 10 and 35 m depth, whereas the accumulation rates of deep coralligène (> 50 m) appear to be low or zero. The age of the large constructions (overhang: 80 cm in width) is positively correlated with depth (r = 0.95; p < 0.005). Their development occurred during the Flandrian transgression. The oldest structures, today situated at 50 to 60 m depth, started to develop when water depth was probably no greater than 10 to 15 m. Apart from in strongly shaded fissures on rocky coasts and areas subjected to heavy sedimentation, the main framework building algal species was initially Mesophyllum lichenoides (Ellis) Lemoine, a high tolerant species to light, hydrodynamic energy and temperature. With the rise in sea level, the coralligène structure gradually became available to other less tolerant algal species (Lithophyllum, Lithothamnion), and the crustforming population diversified. Because of the good preservation of coralligène structures, the reliability of radiocarbon dating and the correlation between the age and bathymetric position of the large coralligène structures (except in areas of heavy sedimentation and fissures in shallow rocky coasts), these buildups are considered to be of use as biological indicators of variations in sea level.     

Period components in the monthly mean sea level variations in the Pacific Ocean

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A System for Fast Cartographic Sounding Selection

Soundings on nautical charts provide information about the shape of the ocean bottom between chart depth curves. A single chart may have thousands of soundings posted on it. This article describes a system for automatic cartographic sounding selection. In this system, a new algorithm for automated selecting soundings is developed. The algorithm is employed in such a way that it can guarantee (a) fast and accurate selecting sounding, (b) processing the circular depth curves, (c) solving the overplotting problems between depth curves and soundings, and (d) keeping selected soundings “prettier.” The system was intensively tested using real data sets, and its superiority has been revealed by the testing results.     

Range localization of 10-100 km explosions by means of an endfire array and a waveguide Invariant

Short acoustical signals like those caused by explosions will in a waveguide split into mode arrivals. If the distance is long enough, they can at the receiver be resolved in time with appropriate narrowband filters. They can simultaneously be resolved in vertical angle (incidence-) with an endfire array and a beamformer. Combined in a beam-time diagram the arrivals will line up along a straight line. The slope of this line is invariant with frequency, mode indexes, source and receiver depths. It can conveniently be linked to the so-called waveguide invariant /spl beta/. An alternative approach to /spl beta/ is to compute it from the bathymetric profile. This is valid for range variable waveguides under adiabatic conditions, constant water sound speed over a harder bottom, and small grazing angles. Together these two approaches to /spl beta/ can be combined in a formula, where direct range determination is the end product. The applicability of the method is demonstrated on data from an experiment at sea. An 820-m array with 10 hydrophones was deployed at the bottom in 320-m water depth. For two endfire runs in opposite directions, small explosive charges out to 115 km were used as sound sources. Typical range estimation errors were 5-10%.     

In situ geotechnical characterization of sediments on the Nova Scotian Slope, eastern Canadian continental margin

A seabed 2-m-long cone penetrometer and coring system (Geotechnical Module) has been used at 17 stations in four transects on the Scotian Slope to characterise in situ shear strength and induced pore pressure on several different types of late Pleistocene and early Holocene failure. Study sites were selected using the SAR high-resolution deep-towed acoustic system equipped with a digital 160–190 kHz sidescan sonar and a 3.5 kHz subbottom profiler.

Several distinctive types of “geotechnical signature” were recognised from plots of cone resistance and induced pore pressure with depth in the sediment. Normally consolidated sediments show a progressive increase in cone resistance with depth (to about 75 kPa at 2 m subbottom). Holocene surficial muds show spectacular apparent overconsolidation, reaching a peak of 250 kPa at about 50 cm subbottom and then decreasing down to 1.5 m. This overconsolidation is associated with Zoophycos burrows. Late Pleistocene sediments exhumed by bedding plane slides show strong true overconsolidation consistent with the original depth of burial inferred from high-resolution seismic stratigraphy. Debris flows show only a slight shear stress gradient with depth (40–45 kPa over 0.5–1 m subbottom) with under-consolidation due to remoulding of sediment.     

A unique Yellow River-derived distal subaqueous delta in the Yellow Sea

Newly acquired high-resolution Chirp sonar profiles reveal a unique Yellow River-derived, alongshore distributed, bidirectional (landward and seaward) across-shelf transported, omega-shaped (“Ω”) distal subaqueous deltaic lobe deposited around the eastern tip of the Shandong Peninsula in the Yellow Sea. This clinoform deposit directly overlies the postglacial transgressive surface, featured by convex-up seafloor morphology, up to 40 m thick locally. Radiocarbon-14 dates from the underlain pre-Holocene and transgressive sediments indicate this distal lobe has formed since the middle-Holocene highstand under a relatively stable sea level. This along-shelf distributed distal clinoform has been deposited mainly by the resuspended Yellow River sediments carried down by the coastal current, interacting with the local waves, tides and upwelling. Collectively, over the past 7000 years, nearly 30% of the Yellow River-derived sediment has been re-suspended and transported out of the Bohai Sea into the Yellow Sea. Overall, the Yellow River-derived sediment could reach the − 80 m water depth in the central South Yellow Sea, about 700 km from the river mouth; in contrast, a very small fraction of the modern riverine sediment could escape the outer shelf or reach the Okinawa Trough.     

Vertical spatial coherence of backscatter from bubbles

A basic formalism is developed to treat the vertical spatial coherence of backscatter from wind-generated microbubbles beneath the ocean surface. This formalism treats signals multiply scattered by the sea surface and the subsurface scatterers, as well as absorption in the bubble layer. Approximate solutions are obtained for the case of narrow beamwidth sources and are applied to study the influence of measurement system and environmental parameters on coherence. Using bubble densities derived from acoustic backscatter data, the coherence is found to depend strongly on source frequency and beam pattern. The primary environmental effect is due to the increase in both bubble density and penetration depth below the surface that occurs with increasing windspeed. At high wind speeds, the vertical coherence is sufficiently dependent on the scatterer depth distribution to provide a viable means of studying this phenomenon.     

Absolute Calibration of the Jason-1 Altimeter Using UK Tide Gauges

This article describes an “absolute” calibration of Jason-1 (J-1) altimeter sea surface height bias using a method developed for TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) bias determination reported previously. The method makes use of U.K. tide gauges equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to measure sea surface heights at the same time, and in the same geocentric reference frame, as Jason-1 altimetric heights recorded in the nearby ocean. The main time-dependent components of the observed altimeter-minus-gauge height-difference time series are due to the slightly different ocean tides at the gauge and in the ocean. The main harmonic coefficients of the tide differences are calculated from analysis of the copious TOPEX data set and then applied to the determination of T, P, and J-1 bias in turn. Datum connections between the tide gauge and altimetric sea surface heights are made by means of precise, local geoid differences from the EGG97 model. By these means, we have estimated Jason-1 altimeter bias determined from Geophysical Data Record (GDR) data for cycles 1-61 to be 12.9 cm, with an accuracy estimated to be approximately 3 cm on the basis of our earlier work. This J-1 bias value is in close agreement with those determined by other groups, which provides a further confirmation of the validity of our method and of its potential for application in other parts of the world where suitable tide gauge, GPS, and geoid information exist.     

Reevaluation of historical ocean heat content variations with time-varying XBT and MBT depth bias corrections

As reported in former studies, temperature observations obtained by expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) and mechanical bathythermographs (MBTs) appear to have positive biases as much as they affect major climate signals. These biases have not been fully taken into account in previous ocean temperature analyses, which have been widely used to detect global warming signals in the oceans. This report proposes a methodology for directly eliminating the biases from the XBT and MBT observations. In the case of XBT observation, assuming that the positive temperature biases mainly originate from greater depths given by conventional XBT fall-rate equations than the truth, a depth bias equation is constructed by fitting depth differences between XBT data and more accurate oceanographic observations to a linear equation of elapsed time. Such depth bias equations are introduced separately for each year and for each probe type. Uncertainty in the gradient of the linear equation is evaluated using a non-parametric test. The typical depth bias is +10 m at 700 m depth on average, which is probably caused by various indeterminable sources of error in the XBT observations as well as a lack of representativeness in the fall-rate equations adopted so far. Depth biases in MBT are fitted to quadratic equations of depth in a similar manner to the XBT method. Correcting the historical XBT and MBT depth biases by these equations allows a historical ocean temperature analysis to be conducted. In comparison with the previous temperature analysis, large differences are found in the present analysis as follows: the duration of large ocean heat content in the 1970s shortens dramatically, and recent ocean cooling becomes insignificant. The result is also in better agreement with tide gauge observations. On leave from the Meteorological Research Institute of the Japan Meteorological Agency.     

半封闭海湾固有振动周期的数值计算

用二维数值模式,根据芝罘湾的实测水深和形状,计算了该湾的固有振动周期,与实测资料吻合较好。计算结果同时给出了当节点N=1,2,...,6时,湾内的振幅分布（合波长、波节线分布）,以及纵振动和横振动分布情况。     

壳体厚度对战斗部爆炸气泡特性影响的数值模拟研究

采用LS-DYNA软件,对装药半径为0.15m、0.42m、0.55m的战斗部有、无壳体的爆炸特性进行数值模拟研究,分析了炸药在有无壳体的水下爆炸时的冲击波压力、气泡脉动压力等特性参数,对比总结了不同当量、不同装药半径及有无壳体的数值计算结果。结果表明:壳体对水下爆炸气泡脉动的影响是较为显著的。壳体厚度对气泡形成时间没有太多影响,但对气泡压力峰值影响较大。因此,研究战斗部水下爆炸威力时必须考虑壳体因素,不能简化。