Three-dimensional modeling in the Weymouth Fore River

The Weymouth Fore River in Eastern Massachusetts is an estuary that presents an interesting example of a constrained environment. The river bank, of course, channels the energy. Man-made features such as the Fore River Bridge, several piers, and the USS Salem (a heavy cruiser) also present interesting features in terms of the sound propagation. We are using this site as the first of several to validate acoustic modeling tools in such constrained spaces. A detailed bathymetric survey was done providing centimeter level resolution using the Woods Hole Jetyaks. The environmental information is the input to a three-dimensional beam tracing model. This talk will present preliminary comparisons of the measured and modeled acoustic data.