Report of the Office of Naval Research Phase II International Workshop on Shallow-Water Acoustics, Seattle, June 27, 1998

Abstract

Under the sponsorship of the Office of Naval Research Ocean Acoustic Program, U.S. and Asian Pacific Rim scientists have initiated a joint effort to design and conduct an international experiment to study shallow water acoustics, physical oceanography, and geology and geophysics in the China Seas. The joint planning began in the International Workshop on Shallow Water Acoustics, held on 8-9 December 1997 in San Francisco, California. The discussion was continued in the Phase II International Workshop on Shallow-Water Acoustics, held on 27 July 1998 at the Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Attended by 33 scientists representing China, France, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Russia and the U.S., the Phase II Workshop resulted in the establishment of a comprehensive list of experimental objectives and a preliminary experimental configuration. The Phase II Workshop also focused on site selection issues, narrowing the many previously discussed site options to only two choices. Based on scientific merits, the group's number one choice was the northern shelf of the South China Sea, with the shelf of the East China Sea selected as an alternate site. A plan of action was generated, calling for: 1. an international experiment to be carried out in April 2000, 2. our Chinese colleagues to apply to the appropriate Chinese authority for permission to conduct a collaborative scientific experiment in the South China Sea location, 3. each participating institution to provide a written summary of their research interest and resource commitment for the international experiment to the workshop organizers, 4. the Phase III workshop to be held in the near future to further coordinate the experimental effort. This report summarizes the presentations, discussions and findings of the Phase II Workshop.