Secrets of Effective Communication beneath the Sea
An acoustic signal is sent horizontally through ocean waters from one point to another. Along the way the sound is bouncing off a "ceiling" of choppy, wind-whipped seas and seafloor that could be craggy rock or smooth sand. If researchers can better understand how physical conditions like these distort sound as it travels through the ocean, they could send data underwater faster and with less power and could make it much easier for networks of sensors to talk to each other simultaneously. They could improve wireless communications from commonly used ocean instruments such as Doppler current profilers and potentially eliminate the need for vehicles and gliders to surface just to transmit modest amounts of data. With these goals on the horizon, a science team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography have successfully completed a three-week study of waters west of the Hawaiian island of Kauai.