Analysis of Acoustic–Magnetic Fields Induced by Underwater Pressure Wave in a Finite-Depth Ocean

Abstract

As underwater disturbances (natural or artificial) occur in the ocean, moving seawater crossing the geomagnetic fields will produce weak circular currents. These currents can induce measurable magnetic fields, which might be useful for monitoring ocean internal waves using aeromagnetic survey. In this research, a spectral-element method (SEM) based on Gauss–Lobatto–Legendre (GLL) polynomials is presented to characterize the magnetic field induced by the underwater pressure waves. A concise mathematical model is established through combining the acoustic wave equations and Maxwell’s equations. Specifically, the acoustic–magnetic coupling simulation adopts the nodal-based SEM for acoustic analysis and edge-based SEM for electromagnetic analysis. The proposed SEM has spectral accuracy, as the error exponentially decreases with the order of the basis functions. Additionally, by adopting an independent modeling and mesh scheme in two solvers, respectively, the waste of computing resources is avoided. The experimental analysis demonstrates that the induced magnetic fields mechanically propagate with the acoustic wave, producing the pseudo-radiation phenomenon. The signals of these magnetic fields may extend for tens of kilometers and exist for hours under certain circumstances, which provide a theoretical basis for underwater target identification via high-sensitivity atomic magnetometer.

Keywords

• induced magnetic field
• acoustic pressure
• acoustic–magnetic coupling
• aeromagnetic survey
• spectral element method (SEM)