ACOUSTIC THREE-DIMENSIONAL EFFECTS AROUND THE TAIWAN STRAIT: COMPUTATIONAL RESULTS

A set of experiments were performed in the offshore area off the coasts of Taiwan and three-dimensional (3-D) measurements recorded. The 3-D effect on underwater propagation due to azimuthal variation of bottom topography is studied for the offshore regions southwest of Taiwan, where submarine canyons exist. A 3-D acoustic propagation model, FOR3D, is used to detect the 3-D effect. Computational results show that the 3-D effect is more prominent along the axis of the canyon than across it. Calculations show a very good agreement with field data, which indicate that the 3-D effect exists in this realistic ocean environment.