FINITE-ELEMENT SOLUTION OF THE INVERSE PROBLEM IN BUBBLE SWARM ACOUSTICS

The bubble population near the ocean surface is of considerable interest. This population affects surface scattering strength, propagation near the surface, and the exchange of gases between the atmosphere and the sea. Both optical and acoustical means have been used to measure the bubble population with varying degrees of success. The acoustic method requires measurements at multiple frequencies and their subsequent conversion to bubble densities through either the resonance theory approximation or numerical solution of the resulting integral equation. In this paper, a numerical solution to the integral equation is obtained using the method of weighted residuals with linear B splines as basis functions. A regularization technique is employed to stabilize the solution. A number of plausible bubble distribution functions are generated along with their acoustic properties to test the robustness of the technique. This approach is shown to yield very accurate bubble distributions from high-quality attenuation data.