The Journal of the Marine Acoustics Society of Japan

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The GNSS-A (GNSS-Acoustic) observation technique is the most important sensing method in seismology and earthquake disaster prevention science. This technique detects absolute seafloor positions using acoustic signals that travel between an onboard transducer on the sea surface and a seafloor transponder. By extracting the ocean field analytically, we recently upgraded the precision of GNSS-A observation. Extracted ocean parameters now make the GNSS-A available to help understand the ocean field, similar to “GNSS meteorology”. The GNSS-A cannot gauge absolute sound speed, but it has the ability to determine the nano-scale gradient field of a sound speed structure. Here, we discuss the ability of this “GNSS-A oceanography” to measure the gradient field of an underwater sound speed structure based on the theoretical influence when considering a simple and smooth two-layer gradient structure. We found that the GNSS-A extracted ocean parameters can be interpreted almost quantitatively. This paper explains the basic concepts necessary for using the GNSS-A as a new fixed-point observation for the ocean field.

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