Propagation of Scholte Waves in deep water in a seafloor with power-law shear velocity depth dependence.

Abstract:

The seafloor plays an important role in the propagation of
seafloor noise because its low shear velocity forms a strong
waveguide and the high shear velocity gradient facilitates
conversion processes.
In 2001 (JASA), O. A. Godin and D. M.F. Chapman studied
propagation of interface (Scholte) waves in models with a
shear speed profile with a power-law depth dependence.
They analyzed of four datasets from shallow-water
sites, which they fit well with two-parameter models.
Furthermore, they show that for the exponent value of
1/2, the mode wavefunctions are self-similar.
Data from the deep seafloor from seafloor sources observed
by Ocean-Bottom Seismographs frequently exhibit a
fundamental mode ending in an Airy phase with a frequency
of a few Hertz. This is, of course,, incompatible
with self-similarity. Adjusting the power-law shear velocity
profile near the water interface, however, improves
the fit of this simple model with a parsimonious
parameterization to data from the the deep seafloor.
Approximation of a power-law model using thin layers of
uniform velocity is eased by using an editor with an
interactive graphical user interface.