The nature of sound fluctuation in the upper ocean. II

Abstract

Having reviewed and critiqued the nature of sound fluctuation in turbulent media and the upper ocean in Part I [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 64, 1132–1147 (1978)], it is now shown, on the basis of turbulent scaling, that the scattering theories of Bergmann, of Mintzer, and of Potter and Murphy are discrete-scattering, and not continuous-scattering theories when Gaussian refractive-fluctuation correlations are imposed. Furthermore, turbulent scaling and the experimentally observed turbulent microstructure strongly suggest that the scattering mechanism in the Stone and Mintzer experiments is not the turbulence, but is more likely discrete impurities (such as the ubiquitous, minute air bubbles which arise due to thermal degassing) which are shuffled about in a random manner by the turbulent fluid. It is strongly suggested that this is often the nature of sound fluctuation in the upper ocean. Finally, more effective methods of the analyzing sound fluctuation in the real ocean are presented.