Influence of lee waves on ocean acoustic simulations near Atlantis II Seamount.

This article investigates the impact of topographically generated lee waves on underwater acoustic propagation near the Atlantis II seamount in the New England Seamount area using a high-resolution regional ocean model called the Coastal and Regional Ocean Community (CROCO) model. The study identifies two types of lee waves—vertical lee waves forming above the seamount and tilted lee waves generated by smaller-scale bathymetry around its base—and demonstrates how these waves modulate sound speed profiles, affecting both the deep sound channel and the sonic layer acoustic duct (SLAD). Acoustic simulations using ray tracing and coupled normal mode analysis reveal that lee waves cause significant spatial and temporal variations in transmission loss, particularly by lifting the sonic layer depth and blocking sound energy within the SLAD at frequencies between 1000 and 2000 Hz. The findings emphasize the necessity of submesoscale-permitting ocean models to capture lee wave dynamics and their influence on acoustic propagation, with implications for improving acoustic prediction accuracy in civilian and defense applications.