Seabed Characterization Experiment: Analysis of Broadband Data

Abstract

Analysis of data acquired during the seabed characterization experiment conducted in the New England mud patch area in March 2017 is presented in this article. A particular feature of these data is the presence of the Airy phase in some of the modes. The mode dispersion data along with the Airy phase information are extracted using the time warping method. The mode dispersion data obtained from the analysis of the acoustic data are then used to estimate the compressional wave speed and density profiles of the sediment layers using linear inversion methods. The validity of these results is investigated, and their validity is demonstrated. The results are consistent with the results obtained by the analysis of similar data in which a nonlinear inversion method was used to estimate the sediment properties. These results further show that meaningful results can be obtained using the linearized inversion procedure.