Sound speed structure in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal

Sound speed computed from annual mean temperature and salinity data of Levitus reveals that spatial variation in the Arabian Sea is greater than that in the Bay of Bengal. Maximum spatial variation of sound speed in the Arabian Sea noticed between the depth levels 200 to 1500 m is due to the combine...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indian journal of marine sciences 1993, Vol.22 (1), p.17-20
Main Authors: PRASANNA KUMAR, S, NAVLEKAR, G. S, RAMANA MURTY, T. V, SOMAYAJULU, Y. K, MURTY, C. S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Marine
Physical and chemical properties of sea water
Physics of the oceans
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Summary:Sound speed computed from annual mean temperature and salinity data of Levitus reveals that spatial variation in the Arabian Sea is greater than that in the Bay of Bengal. Maximum spatial variation of sound speed in the Arabian Sea noticed between the depth levels 200 to 1500 m is due to the combined effect of variation in the salinity (to a larger extent) and temperature. In the Bay of Bengal though the spatial variation of sound speed is marginal, variations observed between 1500 m are brought about by warm Andaman Sea waters. The depth limited nature of annual mean sound speed profile for 2 marginal seas suggests that the effective acoustic channel lies much below ( similar to 300 m) the surface. This results in acoustic propagation in the form of surface-refracted bottom-reflected (RBR) rays within the SOFAR channel.
ISSN:0379-5136
0975-1033