Experimental Investigations of Interference Patterns of Broadband Low Frequency Sound in Ocean Waveguides Inhomogenous in Range

The results of an experimental study of wideband sound propagation along shallow water traces in the Barents Sea during the transmission of pulse signals (with frequency band 5–140 Hz) by a pneumoacoustical source towed over range‐varying bottom bathymetry and sediment structure are submitted. Several autonomous bottom stations were used for the reception and the recording of signals. Measurements of energy spatial‐frequency distributions, mode composition, and dispersive characteristics of waveguides at distances of up to 200 km were performed. The spectral density modulation of the received signal energy in the frequency‐range plane essentially differs from interference patterns in analogous layered inhomogeneous waveguides. The regions of variations of the interference patterns and the waveguide mode spectrum depending on the length of the propagation path with various seafloor structure are shown. The frequency‐spatial dependence of transmission losses obtained from the measured data is researched. Th...