Ocean Acoustics Group

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.