Bottom Reverberation for 530- and 1030-cps Sound in Deep Water

Bottom reverberation measurements were made during September, 1954, with 530- and 1030-cps sound in 2100 fathom water near San Diego for ping durations of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 sec with omnidirectional sources and receivers. The data were analyzed by assuming that the returned sound consisted of both specularly and nonspecularly reflected sound, analogous to the regular and diffuse reflected light from Bristol board. At normal incidence the losses on reflection for the 530- and 1030-cps sound were 19.5±2.5 db and 15.4±1.7 db, respectively. The other sound returning from the bottom as reverberation was assumed to be due to nonspecular reflections obeying Lambert's law of diffuse reflection. The reverberation level due to the nonspecular reflections was then analyzed to obtain the scattering constant μ of the bottom. A value of 10 logμ=−27 db was obtained for both the 530- and 1030-cps sound. The curves computed for a sine squared dependence fit the data for grazing angles from 90° to 30°. A comparison with published values of other investigators indicates that for clays, muds, or fine grained sands there appears to be no significant frequency dependence over a range of seven octaves.