Regions of spreading of Gaussian array beams propagating through oceanic turbulence

The spreading of Gaussian array beams for two types of beam combination propagating through turbulent ocean is investigated. Analytical formulas for the Rayleigh range zR and turbulence distances zT and zTT are derived. Numerical results show that the spreading regions are influenced by the oceanic turbulence parameters and the source parameters. Moreover, the Rayleigh range of the coherent combination case tends to be more sensitive to parameters of the source and oceanic turbulence than that for the incoherent combination one, while in the case of turbulence distances, it is the reverse.