Underwater Acoustics

Abstract

It is well acousticsunderwater established that sound waves, compared to electromagnetic waves, propagate long distances in the ocean. Hence, in the ocean as opposed to air or a vacuum, one uses sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) instead of radar, acoustic communication instead of radio, and acoustic imaging and tomography instead of microwave or optical imaging or X-ray tomography. Underwater acoustics is the science of sound in water (most commonly in the ocean) and encompasses not only the study of sound propagation, but also the masking of sound signals by interfering phenomenon and signal processing for extracting these signals from interference. This chapter we will present the basics physics of ocean acoustics and then discuss applications.