Sound Propagation In The Sea

The continents of our planet have already been exploited to a great extent. Therefore man is turning his sight to the vast spaciousness of the ocean whose resources - mineral, biological, energetic, and others - are just beginning to be used. The ocean is being intensively studied. Our notions about the dynam ics of ocean waters and their role in forming the Earth's climate as well as about the structure of the ocean bottom have substantially changed during the last two decades. An outstanding part in this accelerated exploration of the ocean is played by ocean acoustics. Only sound waves can propagate in water over large distances. Practically all kinds of telemetry, communication, location, and re mote sensing of water masses and the ocean bottom use sound waves. Propa gating over thousands of kilometers in the ocean, they bring information on earthquakes, eruptions of volcanoes, and distant storms. Projects using acoustical tomography systems for exploration of the ocean are presently be ing developed. Each of these systems will allow us to determine the three-di mensional structure of water masses in regions as large as millions of square kilometers.

Rated the most up-to-date source on underwater sound propagation in the current literature. The book covers these topics and more: Basic theory; velocity of sound in the ocean; attenuation and absorption; computer models of sound propagation; reflections and scattering by the sea surface and the sea bottom; temporal and spatial coherence; and multipath in the sea.

This Topics volume is devoted to a study of sound propagation in the ocean. The effect of the interior of the ocean on underwater sound is analogous to the effect of a lens on light. The oceanic lens is related, as in light propagation, to the index of refraction of the medium. The latter is giv~n by the ratio of the sound frequency to the speed of sound in water, typi ca lly about 1500 m s -1. It is the vari ation of the sound speed due to changing temperature, density, salinity, and pres sure in the complex ocean environment which creates the lens effect. Many oceanic processes such as currents, tides, eddies (circulating, translating regions of wa ter), and internal waves (the wave-like structure of the oceanic density variabil ity) contri bute in turn to the changes in sound speed'. The net effect of the ocean lens is to trap and guide sound waves in a channel created by the lens. The trapped sound can then propagate thousands of miles in this oceanic waveguide. In addition to the propagation in the interior of the ocean, sound can propagate into and back out of the ocean bottom as well as scatter from the ocean surface. Just as the sound produced by a loudspeaker in a room is affected by the walls of the room, so the ocean boundaries and the material properties below the ocean bottom are essential ingredients in the problem.

As man turns his attention from the overcrowded continents of this planet and explores the spaciousness of the ocean, the applications of ocean acoustics become increasingly numerous and important. This book pro- vides an up-to-date introduction to the theory of sound propagation in the ocean, with much new material having been added throughout the second edition. It includes both ray and wave treatments and considerable attention is paid to stochastic problems such as the scattering of sound at rough surfaces and random inhomogeneties. An introductory chapter that discusses the basic experimental data complements the following theoretical chapters.

Publisher Description

The book is concerned with the application of modeling techniques and procedures to the investigation of sound propagation in the sea. The modeling method affords a means for studying the laws governing the sound fields in the sea and in other, similar media under controlled laboratory conditions and can be used in underwater acoustics as a coroHary to field experiments. The method has a number of advantages, principal of which are the relative simplicity and low cost of model tests by com parison with fuH-scale tests under oceanic conditions, the high accuracy of acoustical mea surements, excellent reproducibility of the measurement results, and the capability of rapidly varying the experimental conditions, which, unlike the conditions of field experiments, are under complete control. For the modeling of sound propagation in the sea the latter is treated, depending on the problem to be solved, either as a volume-homogeneous medium or as a medium possessing regular and randomly-distributed inhomogeneities. We direct our primary attention in the book to the modeling of layered-inhomogeneous media, but we also discuss separate problems bearing on the study of sound propagation in the sea. It is demonstrated in examples how modeling is employed to investigate the sound field in the ocean for certain typical vertical distributions of the velocity of sound in the ocean.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of hydroacoustics and describes the physical basis of acoustic processes observed in the sea. In addition, it discusses the basic concepts and provides simplified models of sound propagation and acoustic phenomena at the boundary between environments. Lastly, the book examines in detail a number of applications of ocean acoustics and methods. The ocean is the last reserve of natural resources. It is also an essential element in the biosphere, ensuring the latter’s balance, and plays a pivotal role in the Earth’s climate system and global warming. Consequently, studying the ocean is one of humankind’s most critical scientific tasks, but penetrating its mysteries is no mean feat. Acoustics (hydroacoustics) is one of the most powerful tools for examining the water layer and beyond, since sound waves are the only type of radiation that can propagate over distances of hundreds and even thousands of kilometers in the ocean. This unique resource appeals to specialists working in the fields of ocean and atmosphere physics, students and postgraduate students studying sea physics and oceanology, and anyone who is interested in the problems the ocean is currently facing.