| Simultaneous measurements of infrasonic (0.5-20 Hz) particle velocity and pressure made by the Marine Physical Laboratory's freely drifting, independent, and neutrally buoyant Swallow floats are analyzed in terms of the energetics of acoustic fields. The theory of acoustic field energetics is presented and compared to standard data analysis techniques. The properties of the potential and kinetic energy density spectra, and the active and reactive intensity spectra from two deep ocean deployments are discussed. Results indicate that for most of the background sound field data in the midwater column above 1.7 Hz, the potential and kinetic energy density spectra are approximately equal. In one experiment, this is a consequence of the fact that, away from the ocean boundaries, the sound field is locally spatially homogeneous. Spatial homogeneity also implies that the particle velocity cross spectral density matrix is purely real. Near the ocean bottom, the vertical spatial inhomogeneity is statistically significant between 0.6 Hz to 1.4 Hz and 7 Hz to 20 Hz. In the lower band, the pressure autospectrum decreases with increasing distance from the ocean bottom, whereas in the upper band, it increases due to the deep sound channel's ability to trap acoustic energy at the higher infrasonic frequencies. For ship signals, the signal-to-noise ratio in the active intensity magnitude spectrum is 3 to 6 dB greater than in either of the two energy density spectra due to the vector nature of acoustic intensity. Although smaller than the net horizontal flux density above a few hertz, a statistically significant net vertical flux density of energy occurs across the whole frequency band, from the ocean surface into the bottom. The net horizontal flux density for various discrete sources, e.g., a magnitude 4.1 earthquake, a blue whale, and ship-generated harmonic line sets, is discussed. The net horizontal flux density of the background sound field between 5 and 12 Hz may have been determined by the ocean bottom topography in one experiment; its direction approximately coincides with the center of a topographic window. However, it also matches the heading towards a 4000-km-distant hurricane. |
