Trans-dimensional joint inversion of seabed scattering and reflection data

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Vol. 133; no. 3; pp. 1347 - 1357
• Main Authors: Steininger, Gavin, Dettmer, Jan, Dosso, Stan E, Holland, Charles W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-03-2013
• Subjects: Acoustics; Bayes Theorem; Geologic Sediments; Markov Chains; Models, Theoretical; Motion; Oceans and Seas; Scattering, Radiation; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Signal-To-Noise Ratio; Sound; Sound Spectrography; Time Factors; Water
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4789930

This paper examines joint inversion of acoustic scattering and reflection data to resolve seabed interface roughness parameters (spectral strength, exponent, and cutoff) and geoacoustic profiles. Trans-dimensional (trans-D) Bayesian sampling is applied with both the number of sediment layers and the order (zeroth or first) of auto-regressive parameters in the error model treated as unknowns. A prior distribution that allows fluid sediment layers over an elastic basement in a trans-D inversion is derived and implemented. Three cases are considered: Scattering-only inversion, joint scattering and reflection inversion, and joint inversion with the trans-D auto-regressive error model. Including reflection data improves the resolution of scattering and geoacoustic parameters. The trans-D auto-regressive model further improves scattering resolution and correctly differentiates between strongly and weakly correlated residual errors.