Guest editorial. Applied acoustics special issue on: 'The detection of buried marine targets'

Leighton, T.G. (2008) Guest editorial. Applied acoustics special issue on: 'The detection of buried marine targets'. Applied Acoustics, 69 (5), 385-386. (doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2007.06.003).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War the emphasis has changed in the study of underwater acoustics. This has in part been driven by a military imperative, whereby the main challenge is no longer the detection of large nuclear submarines in deep quiet waters. Today the emphasis is on protecting merchant, military and aid vessels, military and civilian personnel, and the environment, in the shallow coastal waters, ports and harbours which have characterised Naval deployments by Western powers in recent years.
The acoustics of such environments is complicated by the proximity of the air/sea interface, the seabed, and the mixing processes which occur at both (entraining bubbles, raising clouds of suspended sediment etc.). These can strongly scatter and attenuate sound fields. With the changing environment and targets of interest (from large nuclear submarines to small mines, for example), the balance between use of passive and active sonar has shifted, and there has been a move to higher frequencies, to obtain better spatial and range resolution, including in the use of sonar for imaging.

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