Some effects of large-scale oceanography on acoustic propagation

Abstract

A propagation experiment was conducted along a great circle track in the North American Basin, beginning at a point 400 km north of Antigua, W.I. and ending at the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Shallow explosive sources were detonated at half hour intervals and shallow-13.89 and 111.1 Hz cw sources were operated continuously. The acoustic fields were detected by a deep sound channel hydrophone located near Antigua. The shot signatures were aligned in time and range forming a pattern which was dependent on and could be interpreted in terms of large-scale oceanography, Major features of the transmission loss curves for the two continuous wave sources are similarly interpretable in terms ,of averaged oceanographic parameters.