Estimation of Water-Like Bottom Length along an Acoustic Track in Shallow Water

Analytically and within the framework of numerical simulations, remote sensing of the water-like bottom in shallow water based on low-frequency sound propagation loss is considered. Water-like bottom sediments are understood as sediments in which the sound speed is close to the sound speed in water, but having a significantly higher density. A model statistical analysis of depth-averaged transmission loss is carried out for acoustic tracks of a fixed range in one of the areas of the Kara Sea with a known structure of the upper layer of the bottom, which includes water-like areas. A good correlation between low-frequency transmission loss and the length of water-like bottom is demonstrated. Based on this result, a method for remote integral estimation of the water-like bottom size at an acoustic track between a single source and a vertical array of hydrophones is proposed.