Features of sound propagation in the presence of bubble clouds in the perturbed surface layer of the ocean

Abstract

There are contradictory views on the contribution of the near-surface layer of bubbles to the attenuation of low-frequency sound in the ocean. Taking into account the new experimental data on the distribution of bubbles in sea water, it is shown that the influence of the near-surface layer of bubbles on the structure of the spatial decay in the propagation of sound can be significant at fairly typical concentrations of bubbles in the near-surface layers of the ocean. A possible explanation for the contradictions is the spatial restructuring of the field structure, in which the main effect of the bubbles is concentrated at the near distance, at the same time not affecting the sound attenuation at the far distance.