Elliptical acoustic particle motion in underwater waveguides.

Elliptical particle motion, often encountered in acoustic fields containing interference between a source signal and its reflections, can be quantified by the degree of circularity, a vector quantity formulated from acoustic particle velocity, or vector intensity measurements. Acoustic analysis based on the degree of circularity is expected to find application in ocean waveguides as its spatial dependence relates to the acquisition geometry, water column sound speed, surface conditions, and bottom properties. Vector sensor measurements from a laboratory experiment are presented to demonstrate the depth dependence of both the degree of circularity and an approximate formulation based on vertical intensity measurements. The approximation is applied to vertical intensity field measurements made in a 2006 experiment off the New Jersey coast (in waters 80 m deep) to demonstrate the effect of sediment structure on the range dependence of the degree of circularity. The mathematical formulation presented here establishes the framework to readily compute the degree of circularity from experimental measurements; the experimental examples are provided as evidence of the spatial and frequency dependence of this fundamental vector property.