IB01-13 ORAL

AN UNDERWATER SOUND INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR THE ARGENTINEAN CONTINENTAL SHELF.

SILVIA BLANC (Underwater Sound Division. Naval Service of Research and Development (SENID)., Av. Libertador 327. Vicente López. Provincia de Buenos Aires. 1638. Argentina., silblanc@yahoo.com); Michèle. Baqués (Underwater Sound Division. Naval Service of Research and Development (SENID)., Av. Libertador 327. Vicente López. Provincia de Buenos Aires. 1638. Argentina., mbaques@yahoo.com); Silvia. R. Salvadores (Underwater Sound Division. Naval Service of Research and Development (SENID)., Av. Libertador 327. Vicente López. Provincia de Buenos Aires. 1638. Argentina., salvadores@yahoo.com); Juan. C. Pizzoni (Underwater Sound Division. Naval Service of Research and Development (SENID)., Av. Libertador 327. Vicente López. Provincia de Buenos Aires. 1638. Argentina., jpizzoni@yahoo.com); Marta. E. De. Milou. And. Carlos. E. Benitez (Underwater Sound Division. Naval Service of Research and Development (SENID)., Av. Libertador 327. Vicente López. Provincia de Buenos Aires. 1638. Argentina., m_milou@yahoo.com; cbenitez@criba.edu.ar)

A large continental shelf with depths lower than 200 metres is a particular maritime feature of the Argentinean Republic. This fact gives rise in our country to a justified interest in describing and modelling sound propagation in shallow waters. An underwater sound information system, is presented here as a tool to provide available acoustical and oceanographic data, based upon oceanographic data basis and sound propagation models that have been developed in the Underwater Sound Division of the Naval Service of Research and Development. It consists of an automated system for PC, useful for underwater sonar prediction in shallow waters such as the Argentinean continental shelf. A DEMO version will be presented. It is destined to provide numerical and graphical information on statistical oceanographic data for the required geographical location and a selected month of the year, computed associated acoustical parameters, the corresponding sonar range prediction an d sonar charts. It includes large data basis of historic environmental data. This project has implied very different tasks that can be separated in three categories, namely, data basis elaboration, acoustical modelling and global software codes. With the main objective of providing an automated mechanism of control, an additional TEST-system has also been developed. It allows the evaluation of the confidence degree of the statistical representative values assigned to some oceanographic data and acoustical parameters through comparisons with 'in situ' and at real-time measurements.