Abstract
The International Monitoring System (IMS) of the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) includes a hydro-acoustic
network as one of the monitoring technologies. The underwater part of
this network includes six stations each composed of two sets of three
hydrophones or triplets, except for HA01 (Cape Leeuwin, Australia) which
is composed of a single triplet. The hydro-acoustic network is now
complete with the recent installation of the HA04 station located in the
Southern Ocean island of Crozet (France). A large number of calls
emanating from marine mammals are recorded by the hydrophones, and we
present examples where the animals are sufficiently close to attempt a
range estimate. We also present examples of scattered arrivals and
related interpretations. One striking example of extremely accurate
range estimation is obtained for a whale in the neighborhood of the Cape
Leeuwin (Australia) HA01 IMS stations. The proximity to the station and
in particular to hydrophone H01W2 was first hypothesized because a
running cross-correlation computation showed that the apparent velocity
of the source was very high and could not be explained by hydro-acoustic
waves travelling within the SOFAR channel. Since the far-field, plane
wave assumption does not apply anymore in this case, a grid search was
implemented to locate the source of the signal with the added assumption
that the source is close to the ocean surface. As a further confirmation
of the proximity of the source to the hydrophones, and given the
expectation that such a source would generate scattering from the ocean
floor and from the free surface, reflections are observed and the travel
time of the scattered waves confirm the position calculated from the
grid search using the direct arrivals.