Coherent backscattering effect from mid-frequency shallow water reverberation

The coherent backscattering (or backscattering enhancement) effect results from persistent interferences between multiply scattered waves propagating along reciprocal paths. This effect results in a doubling of the recorded backscattered intensity reflected exactly in the backward direction with respect to any other direction, after averaging intensity measurements collected over multiple emission angles. This letter presents experimental observations of the coherent backscattering effect from mid-frequency (3-4 kHz) shallow water reverberation measurements collected using a two-dimensional hydrophone array (8.4 × 1.5 m(2)). These results demonstrate the presence of coherent effects in shallow water reverberation not commonly accounted for.