Maximum entropy inference of seabed attenuation parameters using ship radiated broadband noise.

The received acoustic field generated by a single passage of a research vessel on the New Jersey continental shelf is employed to infer probability distributions for the parameter values representing the frequency dependence of the seabed attenuation and the source levels of the ship. The statistical inference approach employed in the analysis is a maximum entropy methodology. The average value of the error function, needed to uniquely specify a conditional posterior probability distribution, is estimated with data samples from time periods in which the ship-receiver geometry is dominated by either the stern or bow aspect. The existence of ambiguities between the source levels and the environmental parameter values motivates an attempt to partially decouple these parameter values. The main result is the demonstration that parameter values for the attenuation (α and the frequency exponent), the sediment sound speed, and the source levels can be resolved through a model space reduction technique. The results of this multi-step statistical inference developed for ship radiated noise is then tested by processing towed source data over the same bandwidth and source track to estimate continuous wave source levels that were measured independently with a reference hydrophone on the tow body.