Deterministic three-dimensional analysis of long-range sound propagation through internal-wave fields

A Munk profile and a set of propagating internal-wave modes are used to construct a three-dimensional time-varying ocean sound-speed model. Three-dimensional ray tracing is employed to simulate long-range sound propagation of a broadband acoustic signal. Methods are developed to convert three-dimensional ray-tracing results to acoustic time-domain amplitude and phase measurements. The ocean sound-speed model is defined deterministically, and the model acoustic receptions are analyzed deterministically. A single internal-wave mode that is "spatially synchronizes" to an arrival can coherently focus and defocus the acoustic energy. These internal waves can cause an arrival's amplitude fluctuation to mimic Rayleigh fading; however, the time-domain phase is stable, in contradiction to the classical Rayleigh fading environment where the received phase is uniformly distributed. For example, the received power attributed to an early arrival propagated over a 750-km range can fluctuate over 40 dB, while the time-domain phase remains within a quarter of a 75 Hz cycle. The characteristics of the time-domain phase are important for establishing coherent integration times at the receiver.