Estimation of turbulent parameters based on the intensity scintillations of the laser beam propagated through a turbulent water layer

The inner scale and the refractive-index structure parameter Cn2 are estimated by the intensity scintillations of the laser beam propagated through the turbulent water layer. The laser beam scintillations caused by underwater propagation can be described in the framework of a turbulence model with accounting of the inner scale. An intensity field has been observed at a 2 m distance when the laser beam passed through a water convective cell with a characteristic Rayleigh number of about 108. Similar intensity fields were simulated by using the split-step method. Characteristics of the experimentally obtained and numerically simulated intensity fields are compared and analyzed. A simple method of the turbulent parameter estimation is proposed.