Overview of the seabed characterization experiment

The seabed characterization experiment (SBCEX) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional international research project devoted to the following scientific goals: (1) to understand the physical mechanisms that control acoustic propagation in fine-grained sediments, (2) to quantify uncertainties in the estimation of seabed parameters, (3) to correlate the observed horizontal variations in the acoustical field with the measured horizontal variability of the seabed, and (4) to assess the performance of the resulting geoacoustic models, inversions, and statistical inference methods. To facilitate these scientific goals, research cruises were undertaken in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, and 2022 primarily at a site known as the New England Mud Patch. The work of the project through 2019 was documented in a special issue of the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, Vol. 45, No. 1 that appeared in January 2020, as well as in peer-reviewed papers in other journals. Here a brief overview of the results through the 2020 special issue will be presented, as well as an overview of the new field work competed in 2021 and 2022. [Work supported by ONR.]