MEASURING THE PARAMETERS OF SEA-SURFACE ROUGHNESS BY UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC SYSTEMS: DISCUSSION OF THE DEVICE CONCEPT

摘要

We consider the concept of an underwater acoustic wave gauge designed to measure statistical characteristics of sea-surface roughness. It is proposed to be based on a centimeter-wave underwater sonar sending probing signals vertically upwards. It is shown that the use of three antennas in such a system is sufficient to measure all statistical second-order moments of sea roughness which is large-scale compared with the acoustic-radiation wavelength. This method can be used for the first time to measure the sea wave parameters which determine the characteristics of the reflected radar signals. The proposed acoustic wave gauge can be used as an independent measuring device, as well as an additional underwater unit of a conventional sea buoy. This will allow one to increase the amount of information about surface waves, which is received from the buoy, at a minimal cost and will make it possible to calibrate new remote sounding systems capable of measuring the variance of sea-surface slopes.