Simulation of sound absorption in seawater

In our original simulation model [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 54, 996 (1973)] we modeled sound absorption in seawater with the coupled system $(Mg+2, SO4−2, CO2, H2O)$ and achieved reasonable fits to the ocean data. The main absorption is due to the $Mg+2SO4−2$ ion pairing but the low‐frequency (< 10 kHz) excess was attributed to the $Mg+2‐HCO3−$ ion‐pairing process. The quantitative fit was very dependent on the parameters of the $Mg+2‐SO4−2$ process. We have recently redetermined the $MgSO4$ system with much greater precision. In addition we have examined the sound absorption due to $Na+‐SO4−2$ ion‐pairing and the popular boric acid‐borate process. We present a more elaborate simulation of seawater absorption using all of the above data. The simulation provides a more meaningful fit to the actual ocean data. [Work supported by ONR.]