Seabed Attenuation In Water Saturated Sands On New Jersey Continental Shelf In 50-3000 Hz Band

The Shallow Water 2006 ocean acoustics experiment on the New Jersey continental shelf was designed in part to determine the frequency dependence of sound speed and attenuation for a sandy sediment in the 50-3000 Hz band. Two acoustic arrays in L-geometries were positioned about 25 km apart on a ridge of coarse sand. Segments of narrowband and impulsive acoustic data were analyzed for the information they contain on the seabed geoacoustic structure and the frequency dependence of the top sediment layer attenuation. The results clearly demonstrate a nonlinear frequency dependence of the absorption.