The update of Urick’s Principles of Underwater Sound

Abstract

For over 50 years Principles of Underwater Sound by Robert Urick has been a widely used book on underwater acoustics and sonar for practicing engineers, scientists, technicians, project managers, teachers and students and it is in the last stages of an extensive update to be released this spring. The book encapsulates the fundamentals and phenomena of underwater sound as applied to the Sonar Equation, the heart of prediction of sonar performance, and the book’s contents lie squarely in the middle between theory at one end and practical technology at the other. The editor and contributors of the update have attempted to imbue the new edition with the same “blue collar” spirit of Urick’s original work but with so much new technology to address since the present edition was published in 1983, it’s been difficult to keep the updated printed edition to a convenient size. Therefore, in addition to the traditional printed book edition, we are introducing a new e-book edition which will provide more detail than the printed edition. This presentation includes: (1) Descriptions of the two new formats (2) Examples of updated technology, and (3) New subjects: sonar transmissions’ effect on the health of marine mammals; sea floor mapping; locating downed airliners; and search plans.