Applied Underwater Acoustics

8.4. Model for Sound Scattering by the Seafloor

Chapter 5 in this book outlines theoretical bases for many practical models for sound scattering by the seafloor, and a more extensive account can be found in Jackson and Richardson [4]. Rather than reviewing the voluminous literature on seafloor acoustic scattering models, this discussion focuses on a model that can be viewed as a successor to the practical model defined in Mourad and Jackson [26] and in APL-UW TR9407 [27]. This earlier model has been described as semiempirical, since sediment volume scattering and scattering by rough seafloors use empirical approaches. The model defined here is taken from Jackson [28] and employs an improved roughness scattering approximation and a physical model ...