OCEAN SEISMO-ACOUSTICS LABORATORY
Faculty in charge:
Prof. A.B. BaggeroerProf. Henrik Schmidt
Location:
Room 5-007 (Basement)Room 5-435 (Mezzanine)
Telephone:
Room 5-007: x8-6168Room 5-435: x3-1032
Propagation of sound and seismic waves in the ocean environment is of crucial importance to marine science and engineering. Since electromagnetic waves propagate very poorly in sea water, acoustic and seismic technology provides the most important means of communication, navigation and imaging below the sea surface. For example, seismic sub-bottom profiling is an important component of off-shore oil exploration. Propagating sound waves provides the means for communication to and from un-tethered submerged instrumentation platforms, and travel time analysis is important for navigation of submersibles such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The propagation characteristics of sound waves can also be used to infer oceanographic properties such as current, temperature and salinity. The research effort in the laboratory is both science and technology-development oriented. Thus, part of the research concerns improving the fundamental understanding of the propagation of sound and seismic waves in the ocean, while other research focus on the development of improved acoustic systems, e.g. for AUV communication and navigation. The lab is also involved in integrated, multi-disciplinary research projects. Thus, student and faculty in the lab are currently involved in a joint effort with MIT Sea Grant and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to develop combined acoustic and AUV network technology allowing for real-time monitoring of coastal oceanography. In addition to providing the scientific community with a new powerful research tool, this technology is expected to revolutionize the monitoring of the coastal environment, e.g. in relation to pollutant transport. The main resource of the lab is a network of currently ten state-of-the-art workstations, including two DEC AXP 3000 Alpha-based workstations. All field experiments are performed jointly with WHOI, and three more workstations located there are also available to the lab.
Projects
Real-Time Oceanography
Sea Ice Mechanics (SIMI)
Transarctic Acoustic Propagation (TAP)
Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC)