Acoustical oceanography Free

A brief retrospect of how physical oceanography belatedly diffused into underwater acoustics (and vice versa) will be given. It has been known since early MIMI days that acoustic transmissions are characterized by fluctuations of order 1. Early interpretations (under Soviet influence) sought support from Kolomogurov turbulent theories. It has turned out that internal waves are generally the more dominant process. In dealing with mesoscale ocean fluctuations, the internal‐wave‐induced “jitter” is the principal noise limiting the accuracy with which maps of ocean and sound speed (i.e., temperature) can be prepared by tomographic inversion of acoustic travel time.