Coastal Acoustic Tomography

Abstract

Ocean acoustic tomography, which has developed as a three-dimensional mapping tool of deep-sea temperature and current, is now applied to coastal sea measurement. Long-term measurement of temperature and current fields in the coastal sea is still difficult, espcially in the sea around Japan, which is chracterized by heavy shipping traffic and fisheries activity. This difficulty can poptentially be overcome through the application of coastal acoustic tomogrpahy (CAT). It is expected that CAT will promote progress in the coastal oceanography of Japan in the near future.