Bayesian geoacoustic inversion in a range‐dependent environment

In August 2006 a series of experiments was carried out on the New Jersey continental shelf to investigate geoacoustic inversion in a range‐dependent shallow water environment. The experimental site was instrumented with multiple oceanographic sensing systems to provide spatial and temporal ground truth of the ocean environment throughout the experiments. The acoustic experiments used multiple receiving systems and sound sources operating over a large frequency band from 50 to 20 kHz. This paper presents results from inversion of low‐frequency (<1000 Hz) data obtained along a radial track from one of the 16‐element vertical line arrays. The track was surveyed with a chirp sonar to establish bathymetric and subbottom ground truth. Continuous wave tones were recorded at ranges of 1, 3, and 5 km where the source ship held station for several minutes. Bayesian matched field inversion was applied at each of the sites. The effects of unknown range dependence were taken into account by estimating the data error c...