A regional geophysical database for shallow water acoustic predictions

An increased demand for operations in shallow water has inspired campaigns of seabed mapping and the development of databases in support of such operations. This paper presents the development of a regional seafloor geophysical database tailored for low frequency acoustic propagation predictions in a specific shallow water continental shelf environment. The compilation of the database has been guided by knowledge of the geology of the region and is based on a limited amount of published geophysical data and geoacoustic information, supplied with low-cost measurements of geophysical parameters selected by their impact on acoustic propagation.