EFFECT OF SURFICIAL SEDIMENT LAYERING ON HIGH-FREQUENCY SEA-FLOOR REVERBERATION

Perturbation theory is applied to predict the effects of surficial sediment layering on high-frequency acoustic backscatter from the seafloor. The case of a thin rough surface layer over a rough homogenous half-space is considered in which the surface and half-space roughnesses are partially correlated. The theory predicts strong interference effects near the critical angle similar to the anomalous scatter observed in recent field exercises.