Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Oceanography

Underwater Acoustics Research

Underwater Acoustics Research is a research topic within Oceanography. Science Explorer counts 44k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the use of multiscale acoustic and machine learning techniques for mapping and classifying the seafloor, including habitat classification, bathymetry data analysis, geoacoustic inversion, and the study of marine sediments. The research covers a wide range of topics related to underwater acoustics and the application of advanced technologies for understanding and visualizing the spatial ecology of the seafloor.

  • Seafloor Mapping
  • Acoustic Techniques
  • Habitat Classification
  • Bathymetry Data
  • Multibeam Sonar
  • Machine Learning
  • Geoacoustic Inversion
  • Benthic Habitat
  • Marine Sediments
  • Underwater Acoustics
Research works
44k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+33%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
50% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Underwater Acoustics Research

Which countries lead Underwater Acoustics Research research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (3.2k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 3.2k works
  2. 2 United States 1.3k works
  3. 3 India 295 works
  4. 4 France 283 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 271 works
  6. 6 Russia 244 works
  7. 7 Japan 195 works
  8. 8 Canada 192 works
  9. 9 Italy 162 works
  10. 10 South Korea 158 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 50.2%United States: 21.2%India: 4.7%France: 4.5%6 others listed: 19.4%50%largest
China3,156 · 50.2%United States1,336 · 21.2%India295 · 4.7%France283 · 4.5%6 others listed1,222 · 19.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Underwater Acoustics Research research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Underwater Acoustics Research research, followed by Harbin Engineering University and Northwestern Polytechnical University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 213 works
  2. 2 Harbin Engineering UniversityChina 165 works
  3. 3 Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 153 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 124 works
  5. 5 United States Department of DefenseUnited States 111 works
  6. 6 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 110 works
  7. 7 University of California San DiegoUnited States 92 works
  8. 8 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 92 works
  9. 9 Ocean University of ChinaChina 87 works
  10. 10 University of WashingtonUnited States 64 works

Who are the leading researchers in Underwater Acoustics Research?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Underwater Acoustics Research include Jun Wang, Wei Huang and Yann LeCun.

  1. 1 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  2. 2 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  3. 3 Yann LeCun United States 256k citations
  4. 4 P. Jackson France 230k citations
  5. 5 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  6. 6 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations
  7. 7 David Julian McClements United States 185k citations
  8. 8 Luc Van Gool Switzerland 177k citations
  9. 9 H. Vincent Poor United States 165k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Underwater Acoustics Research?

The most cited paper in Underwater Acoustics Research is "ESPRIT-estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques" (R. Roy, T. Kailath, 1989), with 7,295 citations. Next come "High-resolution frequency-wavenumber spectrum analysis" (6,396) and "Locally Resonant Sonic Materials" (5,482).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 ESPRIT-estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques R. Roy, T. Kailath · IEEE Transactions on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing Jul 1989 7,295
2 High-resolution frequency-wavenumber spectrum analysis Jack Capon · Proceedings of the IEEE 1969 6,396
3 Locally Resonant Sonic Materials Zhengyou Liu, Xixiang Zhang, Yiwei Mao et al. · Science 8 Sep 2000 5,482
4 Multiferroic magnetoelectric composites: Historical perspective, status, and future directions Ce‐Wen Nan, Mirza I. Bichurin, Shuxiang Dong et al. · Journal of Applied Physics Feb 2008 3,767
5 Entropy-based algorithms for best basis selection Ronald R. Coifman, Mladen Victor Wickerhauser · IEEE Transactions on Information Theory Mar 1992 3,195
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Underwater Acoustics Research research done?

The largest centres of Underwater Acoustics Research research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Xi'an (China), Qingdao (China) and Harbin (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Falmouth, Monterey and La Jolla.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 577 works
  2. 2 Xi'anChina 308 works
  3. 3 QingdaoChina 229 works
  4. 4 HarbinChina 224 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 173 works
  6. 6 HangzhouChina 163 works
  7. 7 ShanghaiChina 153 works
  8. 8 NanjingChina 148 works
  9. 9 ChangshaChina 128 works
  10. 10 GuangzhouChina 88 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. FalmouthUS · 60.0 works123×
  2. MontereyUS · 25.9 works54×
  3. La JollaUS · 57.2 works38×
  4. DurhamUS · 26.1 works37×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Underwater Acoustics Research than the world average.

See Underwater Acoustics Research on the map

Where is the best place to study Underwater Acoustics Research?

Among universities, judged by research, Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications, University of California San Diego and Northwestern Polytechnical University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 16.39%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Xi’an University of …Northwestern Polytec…University of Califo…Harbin Engineering U…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Xi’an University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina 67.738.8%12.1×16 +211.6%
2University of California San DiegoUnited States 64.411.1%14.5×92 +20.5%
3Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 63.616.0%20.6×153 +84.6%
4Harbin Engineering UniversityChina 60.311.0%49.1×165 +43.1%
5National University of Defense TechnologyChina 57.915.7%18.2×92 +44.1%
6Ocean University of ChinaChina 55.19.7%26.5×87 +110.9%
7Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States 54.119.4%6.2×28 +30.4%
8Aarhus UniversityDenmark 53.920.6%2.9×16 +24.2%
9University of WashingtonUnited States 53.610.4%8.6×64 +7.7%
10University of St AndrewsUnited Kingdom 52.211.2%10.3×14 +11.1%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Underwater Acoustics Research, country by country

Is Underwater Acoustics Research research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 33% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Underwater Acoustics Research.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Underwater Acoustics Research as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.037% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%Underwater Acoustics Research0.033% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Underwater Acoustics Research over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Underwater Acoustics Research9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Underwater Acoustics Research. Posts are plain text and can be reported.