Bottom attenuation estimation using sound intensity fluctuations due to mode coupling by nonlinear internal waves in shallow water

Analyses of fluctuations of low frequency signals (300 ± 30 Hz) propagating in shallow water in the presence of nonlinear internal waves (NIWs) in the Shallow Water 2006 experiment are carried out. Signals were received by a vertical line array at a distance of ∼20 km from the source. A NIW train was moving totally inside of the acoustic track, and the angle between the wave front of the NIW and the acoustic track in the horizontal plane was ∼10°. It is shown that the spectrum of the sound intensity fluctuations contains peaks corresponding to the coupling of pairs of propagating modes. Analysis of spectra at different hydrophone depths, and also summed over depth allows the authors to estimate attenuation in the bottom sediments.