Experimental measurement of the array bearing error caused by bathymetric refraction

Experimental measurements have been carried out to identify the effects of a realistic bottom bathymetry on detecting a source with a horizontal line array. The measurements have been conducted over a 1:10000 scale model of the Santa Lucia Escarpment. The experiments measured the bearing error obtained in locating a CW source with a horizontal line array using plane-wave beamforming. The error in the detected bearing is caused by the bending of sound rays in the horizontal plane, commonly referred to as horizontal or bathymetric refraction. The results of the experiment demonstrate large bearing errors which vary rapidly and do not increase monotonically with range. The rapid variation of the bearing errors was unexpected and was a result which has not been previously identified. The magnitude of the errors was also a function of the across slope look direction and frequency, with bearing errors as large as 26° for low frequencies. At higher frequencies, the bearing error is reduced. An analytical solution for the acoustic field over a shear supporting sloping bottom has been used to approximate the results of the experiment. The simulation confirmed the trends in the experimental results by showing bearing errors of the same order of magnitude with the same dependence on across slope direction and frequency. Most importantly, the theoretical results also showed a rapidly varying bearing error as a function of across slope range