Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elastic medium. More simply, the speed of sound is how fast vibrations travel. At 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound in air, is about 343 m/s (1,125 ft/s; 1,235 km/h; 767 mph; 667 kn), or 1 km in 2.91 s or one mile in 4.69 s.
The SOFAR channel (short for sound fixing and ranging channel), or deep sound channel (DSC), [1] is a horizontal layer of water in the ocean at which depth the speed of sound is at its minimum. The SOFAR channel acts as a waveguide for sound, and low frequency sound waves within the channel may travel thousands of miles before dissipating.
Figure 1. Table 1's data in graphical format. Although given as a function of depth [note 1], the speed of sound in the ocean does not depend solely on depth.Rather, for a given depth, the speed of sound depends on the temperature at that depth, the depth itself, and the salinity at that depth, in that order.
For the same numerical value of SPL, the intensity of a plane wave (power per unit area, proportional to mean square sound pressure divided by acoustic impedance) in air is about 20 2 ×3600 = 1 440 000 times higher than in water. Similarly, the intensity is about the same if the SPL is 61.6 dB higher in the water.
An acoustic wave is a mechanical wave that transmits energy through the movements of atoms and molecules. Acoustic waves transmit through fluids in a longitudinal manner (movement of particles are parallel to the direction of propagation of the wave); in contrast to electromagnetic waves that transmit in transverse manner (movement of particles at a right angle to the direction of propagation ...
In oceanography, a sofar bomb (Sound Fixing And Ranging bomb), occasionally referred to as a sofar disc, [1] is a long-range position-fixing system that uses impulsive sounds in the deep sound channel (SOFAR channel) of the ocean to enable pinpointing of the location of ships or crashed planes.
Water pressure also affects sound propagation: higher pressure increases the sound speed, which causes the sound waves to refract away from the area of higher sound speed. The mathematical model of refraction is called Snell's law. If the sound source is deep and the conditions are right, propagation may occur in the 'deep sound channel'. This ...
This effect is responsible for guided propagation of sound waves over long distances in the ocean and in the atmosphere. In the atmosphere, vertical gradients of wind speed and temperature lead to refraction. [1] The wind speed is usually increasing with height, which leads to a downward bending of the sound rays towards the ground.