Modeling scattering from azimuthally symmetric bathymetric features using wavefield superposition.

In this paper, an approach for modeling the scattering from azimuthally symmetric bathymetric features is described. These features are useful models for small mounds and indentations on the seafloor at high frequencies and seamounts, shoals, and basins at low frequencies. A bathymetric feature can be considered as a compact closed region, with the same sound speed and density as one of the surrounding media. Using this approach, a number of numerical methods appropriate for a partially buried target or facet problem can be applied. This paper considers the use of wavefield superposition and because of the azimuthal symmetry, the three-dimensional solution to the scattering problem can be expressed as a Fourier sum of solutions to a set of two-dimensional scattering problems. In the case where the surrounding two half spaces have only a density contrast, a semianalytic coupled mode solution is derived. This provides a benchmark solution to scattering from a class of penetrable hemispherical bosses or indentations. The details and problems of the numerical implementation of the wavefield superposition method are described. Example computations using the method for a simple scattering feature on a seabed are presented for a wide band of frequencies.