Acoustical characteristics of the sea floor: experimental techniques and some examples from the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

The acoustical properties of the sea floor are primarily determined by the physical properties of the sediments, layering in the sediments, and the roughness of the bottom and sub-bottom. Over the last decade many cores and bottom photographs have been taken and acoustical measurements made to improve our understanding of the mechanism governing the physics of sound in marine sediments. The results of such studies made by NATO SACLANT ASW Research Centre in different regions of the Mediterranean Sea are presented. Methods of observation and data analysis are briefly discussed. The relationships among those properties of the sediment that affect the acoustical characteristics of the bottom are given and results are compared with the acoustical measurements.