Experimental investigation of the angular dependence of low-frequency seabed reverberation

Linear frequency-modulated (LFM) signals with 600 Hz bandwidth, centered at 1.1 kHz were transmitted from a towed source in a shallow-water environment in the Mediterranean Sea and received at a distant vertical line array (VLA). Arrivals recorded on the VLA were beamformed to give incident intensity as a function of vertical angle. Simultaneous measurements of quasimonostatic reverberation were made on a horizontal line array (HLA), towed close to the source. In this paper, these data are analyzed to study the relation between the angle at which sound arrived at the patch of seabed surrounding the VLA and the intensity of quasimonostatic reverberation returned from that patch. The validity of three candidate relations (Lambert's Law, angle-independent scattering and an intermediate relation) is investigated and scattering strength parameters (Lambert mu and equivalents) are also deduced for the patch of seabed surrounding the VLA. Only weak evidence is found to support one of the scattering relations (the intermediate) over the other two and the reasons for this are discussed. The physical processes that may underlie the intermediate relation are also discussed