Shallow‐water acoustic experiment in the Strait of Sicily Area: Preliminary results

Shallow‐water acoustic and geoacoustic measurements were made in the southwest margin of the Adventure Bank area of the Strait of Sicily in a region having about 120‐m water depth and a generally smooth calcareous sand seafloor. Concurrent propagation and reverberation experiments were conducted using horizontal and vertical array receivers with both broadband explosive and controlled narrow‐band sources. Propagation is frequency dependent with minimum transmission loss at long range occurring in the frequency band 200–800 Hz. Overall reverberation envelope of duration was about 60 s and includes both diffuse returns and arrivals from major bathymetric features. [Work supported by ONR.]