Calibrated Seafloor Acoustic Backscatter Imagery with a 160 kHz Multibeam Sonar
Abstract
A fully calibrated multibeam swath sonar operating at 160 kHz was used to collect seafloor acoustic backscatter data in Portsmouth Harbor, NH. Acoustic backscatter levels integrated over each beam’s footprint are compared with levels integrated over the sonar pulse’s footprint commonly used in sidelooking sonar imagery of the seafloor. In both cases, concurrent swathbathymetry is used to convert arrival angles measured at the sonar into angles of incidence relative to the seafloor. These results are contrasted against an extensive sedimentary and acoustic database obtained in 2001 with high frequency seafloor mapping sonars O(100–500 kHz) while assembling a common data set for the 2nd International Conference on High‐resolution Surveys in Shallow Water 2001 (http://www.ccom.unh.edu/shallow/shallowsurvey.htm).
Department
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping
Publication Date
2004
Volume
116, Issue 4
Journal Title
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Pages
2576
Publisher Place
Melville, NY, USA
Publisher
Acoustical Society of America
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1121/1.4785287
Document Type
Journal Article
Recommended Citation
C. de Moustier and A. Schimel, ‘Calibrated seafloor acoustic backscatter imagery with a 160-kHz multibeam sonar’, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 116, no. 4, p. 2576, 2004.