A technique for measuring the plane-wave reflection coefficient of the ocean bottom

A new technique for the measurement of the plane-wave reflection coefficient of a horizontally stratified ocean bottom is described. It is based on the exact Hankel transform relationship between the reflection coefficient and the bottom reflected field due to a point source. The method employs a new algorithm for the numerical evaluation of the Hankel transform which is based on the ’’projection-slice’’ theorem for the two-dimensional Fourier transform. The details of the algorithm are described in the companion paper. Although the algorithm is applied to the case of an isovelocity ocean, the general theory for measuring the plane-wave reflection coefficient in a refracting ocean is developed. The technique provides information about the reflection coefficient, not only for real incident angles, but also for complex angles, thus potentially providing substantial additional structural information about the bottom. The method is shown to yield excellent results with synthetically generated data for the cases of a hard bottom and slow isovelocity bottom.