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Observations of ocean currents are important information in the fields of ocean science and engineering. Reciprocal acoustic transmissions have the potential to operationally measure tidal currents in coastal seas. This study investigates the capability of the reciprocal transmissions to measure tidal currents, particularly in relation to high-frequency variations. We conducted a reciprocal acoustic transmission experiment in an area of complex coastlines in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, in October 2019. During this experiment, a burst transmission was used, and the system performed six transmissions with 1-min intervals between them every 10 min. The estimated path-averaged currents agreed with the currents obtained from a shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) on an hourly basis and had captured high-frequency variations that were not captured by the hourly ADCP observations. The measurement noise of the estimated currents, which was determined as the variation within the six transmissions, was 2.5 cm s−1 and was small enough to trace the variations in the currents over the time series even for the variations with periods considerably shorter than M2 tide. The reciprocal transmission’s capability to capture high-frequency variations will improve the capability to reproduce current velocity fields when inversion or data assimilation methods are applied.

Acoustic plane-wave scattering from a rough surface overlying a fluid half-space with a sound-speed distribution subject to a small random variation is considered. Under the assumption that the surface roughness and medium randomness are statistically independent, the scattered field may be derived by first solving for the mean field in the medium, and then incorporating with boundary-perturbation method to obtain the total mean field and the power spectral density of the scattered field. The employed algorithm is compatible to the analysis available in the existing literature so that the formulations are conveniently integrated. The results for the power spectral density have shown that the effects of medium inhomogeneities on the rough surface scattering are limited in a spectral regime where the scattered components have shallow grazing angles. The distribution of the power spectral density over the space is primarily governed by the power spectrum and correlation lengths of the rough surface.

The objective of this paper is to present the effect of sediment characteristics on the dynamic response of sea walls and breakwaters during earthquakes. A finite-difference method is used to calculate the earthquake-induced hydrodynamic pressures of seawater and the pore water in seabed sediment. The water-filled soil mixture is used to model sediment and back-fill soil. The dynamic response of a rigid coastal structure induced by constant ground acceleration is studied, using variable sediment depths and porosity. The dynamic characteristics of the water–embankment–sediment system are investigated, applying four earthquake-records as exciting forces. The result of a quay-walled caisson demonstrates the significance of the seismic-induced dynamic force and the seismic effects should be considered for the design of coastal structures in seismic zone. The damaged wharves of Taichung Port during Chi-Chi earthquake, 21 September 1999 is also reported in the paper.

Acoustic wave fields in an ocean waveguide with a sediment layer having continuously varying density and sound speed overlying an elastic subbottom are considered in this analysis. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of seabed acoustic properties, including the density and sound speed of the sediment layer and subbottom, on the characteristics of the wave fields. Examination of the reflection coefficient, wavenumber spectrum, and noise intensity of the sound field through numerical analysis has shown that the variation in the acoustic properties in the sediment layer is an important factor in determining the reflected or noise sound fields. In particular, the sediment thickness-to-wavelength ratio and the types of variation of acoustic properties inside the layer give rise to many characteristics that potentially allow for acoustic inversion of the seabed properties. With regard to the wave-field components in a shallow-water environment, the various types of waves existing in a seismo-acoustic waveguide have been illustrated. The results indicate that the effects of the sediment properties on the wavenumber spectrum are primarily on the continuous and evanescent regimes of the wave field. The noise intensity generated by distributive random monopoles at various depths, together with the effect of refractive sound-speed distribution in the water column, has been obtained and analyzed.

Plane-wave reflection from a rough surface overlying a fluid half-space, with a sound speed distribution subject to a small and random perturbation, is considered. A theory based upon a boundary perturbation method in conjunction with a formulation derived from Green's function for the coherent field in the random medium have been applied to a typical oceanic environment to study their effects on the plane-wave reflection. By considering the coherent field itself, the plane-wave reflection may be obtained straightforwardly through a procedure consistent with the formalisms currently employed in rough surface scattering. The results show that both the rough surface and medium inhomogenieties may reduce the plane-wave reflection, however, the characteristics of the curves representing their effects are different, enabling us to identify the dominant scattering mechanism. The results for the coherent reflection due to the individual scattering mechanism are compatible with those found in the existing literature.

Acoustic scattering of a plane wave incident upon a rough surface over a transition fluid layer within which both the density and sound speed vary with depth is considered. A theory based upon a boundary perturbation method has been applied to a typical seabed environment to study the power spectral density representing the energy distribution of the scattered field over the space. The effects of frequency and roughness properties, including the rms roughness height, spatial correlation, and power spectrum, on the power spectral density have been investigated. The results demonstrate that the power spectral density of the scattered field depends upon all the aforementioned parameters, particularly the correlation length and the power spectrum of the rough surface, a conclusion in distinct contrast to the results for the coherent field obtained in an earlier study. It was found that the constituents of the rough surface such as the correlation length and wavenumber spectrum dominate the angular distribution of the scattered energy. These results indicate that it is crucial to employ a suitable topological model in the study of rough seabed scattering.

Acoustic plane wave incident upon a fluid slab bounded by rough surfaces, within which the sound-speed distribution is subject to random perturbation, is considered. A theory based upon a boundary perturbation method in conjunction with a formulation derived from Green's function for the coherent field in the random medium has been applied to a typical oceanic environment, to study the coherent reflection from and transmission through the rough-and-random slab. Under the assumption of independence between the randomness of rough surface and that of sound-speed perturbation, the coherent fields may be obtained straightforwardly using formulations compatible with those employed in the existing literature. The reflection and transmission coefficients are then numerically generated for various cases to analyze the effects of surface roughness and medium inhomogeneities. The results have shown that both mechanisms reduce the coherent reflection and transmission coefficients, because of the generation of incoherent scattered fields which in effect are to disperse coherent energy. It is also interesting to note that the variation of the reflection coefficient near the critical angle presents distinctive characteristics for different scattering mechanisms, potentially allowing to identify the dominant one for a particular problem under consideration.