Simultaneous reception of long-range low-frequency backscattered sound by a vertical and a horizontal array

Simultaneous measurements of low-frequency sound generated by an explosive source and backscattered from the seafloor in the eastern Mediterranean were made with two receiver configurations: a towed horizontal array and a vertical array. Images of the scattering features on the beam-time data of the horizontal array were useful in the interpretation of the scattering process and in estimating areas of scatterers received by the vertical array, and permitted scattering strengths to be estimated for both configurations. Images of the vertical array data provided information about the vertical arrival angles at the array from specific scatterers. At long range, the sound from the scattering features was received at grazing angles less than 13\deg . The scattering strengths for three features varied from - 47 to - 25 dB. The mean frequency dependence over the band 125 to 700 Hz varied from 0 to 2.5 dB/octave with greater variations occurring within smaller bands.