Imaging ocean-basin reverberation via inversion

A technique for imaging large areas of the ocean floor by inverting reverberation data is presented. Acoustic returns measured on a horizontally towed line array have right–left ambiguity about the array’s axis and decreasing cross-range resolution for off-broadside beams and more distant scattering sites. By optimal use of data taken with differing array locations and orientations, right–left ambiguity is eliminated and resolution is maximized. This is accomplished via a global inversion using the array’s known resolving properties. The output of the inversion can be optimally resolved reverberation, scattering coefficient, or physical properties of the seafloor, depending upon the formulation. Simulations are presented to show the general superiority of this approach to data averaging.