INTENSITY FLUCTUATIONS IN REFLECTIONS FROM OCEAN SURFACE

The fluctuations in energy occurring in successive reflections of acoustic pings from the ocean surface have been measured in the acoustic frequency range from 160 to 1360 Hz. The relations of these fluctuations to the independently measured statistics of the ocean waves indicate that the degree of fluctuation is proportional to the effective roughness R up to a saturation roughness, the distribution of reflected energies departs more and more strongly from normal as the roughness increases, and only surface waves whose wavelength exceeds that of the impinging acoustic ping by a factor considerably greater than I will produce fluctuations in the reflected pings. © 1969, Acoustical Society of America. All rights reserved.