On the generation of sound in the ocean by surface waves

✍ Scribed by E.Y. Harper; P.G. Simpkins

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 401 KB
• Volume: 37
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-460X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0022-460x(74)80327-5

✦ Synopsis

The problem of sound generation by standing waves on the surface of the ocean is discussed. To a leading order of approximation, in which fluid motion non-Iinearity is neglected, the surface motion gives rise to harmonic distortion. When the surface displacement is small, a sequence of harmonics is generated, beginning with the second, which is ordered in the surface wave amplitude. The next harmonic in this sequence is shown to be the fourth. It follows that in the case of a large amplitude periodic standing wave, a harmonic spectrum is generated which is not ordered in the surface wave amplitude. The magnitude of the acoustic radiation is shown to be independent of fluid compressibility. In many respects the acoustic field is the two-dimensional counterpart of the long-wavelength radiation from a pulsating sphere.