A spatial correlation model for the horizontal non-isotropic ocean ambient noise vector field

The ocean ambient noise is one of interference fields of underwater acoustic channel. The design and use of any sonar system are bound to be affected by ocean ambient noise, so to research the spatial correlation characteristics of noise field is of positive significance to improving the performance of sonar system. Only wind-generated noise is considered in most existing ambient noise models. In this case, the noise field is isotropic in horizontal direction. However, due to those influencing factors, like rainfall, ships and windstorm, etc. for a real ocean environment, noise field becomes anisotropic horizontally and the spatial structure of ambient field also changes correspondingly. This paper presents a spatial correlation of the acoustic vector field of anisotropic field by introducing Von Mises probability distribution to describe horizontal directivity. Closed-form expressions are derived which relate the cross-correlation among the sound pressure and three orthogonal components of vibration velocity, besides, the influence of the non-uniformity of noise field on the correlation characteristics of noise vector field was analysed. The model presented in this paper can provide theoretical guidance for the design and application of vector sensors array. Furthermore, the achievement could be applied to front extraction, Green’s function extraction, inversion for ocean bottom parameters, and so on.