SOFAR channel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The SOFAR channel (short for Sound Fixing and Ranging channel),
or deep sound channel (DSC),[1] is a horizontal layer of water in the
ocean at which depth the speed of sound is at its minimum. The SOFAR
channel acts as a waveguide for sound, and low frequency sound waves
within the channel may travel thousands of miles before dissipating.[2]
This phenomenon is an important factor in submarine warfare. The
deep sound channel was discovered and described independently by
Maurice Ewing, Stanley Wong and Leonid Brekhovskikh in the
1940s.[3]

Contents
1 Details
2 Applications
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Sound speed as a function of depth at a

position north of Hawaii in thePacific
Details Ocean derived from the 2005World
Ocean Atlas. The SOFAR channel axis is
The SOFAR channel is centred on the depth where the cumulative at ca. 750-m depth
effect of temperature and water pressure (and, to a lesser extent,
salinity) combine to create the region
of minimum sound speed in the water
column. Pressure in the ocean
increases linearly with depth, but
temperature is more variable,
generally falling rapidly in the main
thermocline from the surface to
around a thousand metres deep, then
remaining almost unchanged from Acoustic pulses travel great distances in the ocean because they are trapped in an
there to the ocean floor in the deep acoustic "wave guide". This means that as acoustic pulses approach the surface
sea. Near the surface, the rapidly they are turned back towards the bottom, and as they approach the ocean bottom
falling temperature causes a decrease they are turned back towards the surface. The ocean conducts sound very
in sound speed, or a negative sound efficiently, particularly sound at low frequencies,i.e., less than a few hundred Hz
speed gradient. With increasing depth,
the increasing pressure causes an
increase in sound speed, or a positive sound speed gradient. The depth where the sound speed is at a minimum
is called the sound channel axis.

Near Bermuda, the sound channel axis occurs at a depth of around 1000 metres. In temperate waters, the axis is
shallower, and at high latitudes (above about 60N or below 60S) it reaches the surface.

Sound propagates in the channel by refraction of sound, which makes sound travel near the depth of slowest
speed. If a sound wave propagates away from this horizontal channel, the part of the wave furthest from the
channel axis travels faster, so the wave turns back toward the channel axis. As a result, the sound waves trace a
path that oscillates across the SOFAR channel axis. This principle is similar to long distance transmission of
light in an optical fibre.
Mysterious low-frequency sounds, attributed to fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), are a common occurrence
in the channel. Scientists believe fin whales may dive down to this channel and "sing" to communicate with
other fin whales many kilometers away.[4]

During World War II, Dr. Maurice Ewing suggested that dropping into the ocean a small metal sphere (called a
SOFAR bomb or SOFAR disc), specifically designed to implode at the SOFAR channel, could be used as a
secret distress signal by downed pilots.[5]

The novel The Hunt for Red October describes the use of the SOFAR channel in submarine detection.

The conjectured existence of a similar channel in the upper atmosphere, theorized by Dr. Ewing, led to Project
Mogul, carried out from 1947 until late 1948.

Applications
Ocean acoustic tomography: A technique to measure ocean temperatures and currents by the time delay
of sounds between two distant instruments
Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Sounds carried by the SOFAR channel were analyzed to
determine if they detected a possible ocean impact of a passenger jet which disappeared in the Southern
Indian Ocean
SOSUS: Hydrophone system to detect submarine movements during Cold War

See also
Bathythermograph
Underwater acoustics

References
1. Navy Supplement to the DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms (https://www.nwdc.navy.mil/
Documents/NTRP_1-02.pdf) (PDF). Department Of The Navy. August 2006. NTRP 1-02.
2. "The Heard Island Feasibility Test" (https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbrigus.physic
s.mun.ca%2F~zedel%2FP6317%2Fpapers%2Fheard_island.pdf) (PDF). Acoustical Society of America.
1994.
3. Citation for Leonid Maximovich Brekhovskikh ...for pioneering contributions to wave propagation and
scattering (http://rav.sio.rssi.ru/leon/brekhc.htm)
4. Orientation by Means of Long Range Acoustic Signaling in Baleen Whales (http://www3.interscience.wi
ley.com/journal/119693602/abstract), R. Payne, D. Webb, in Annals NY Acad. Sci., 188: 11041 (1971)
5. "Sound Channel, SOFAR, and SOSUS" (http://muller.lbl.gov/teaching/Physics10/old%20physics%2010/
pages/SoundChannel.html). Robert A. Muller. Retrieved 2007-04-14.

External links
The SOFAR or deep sound channel, from NOAA
A sound pipeline, from the National Academy of Sciences
SOSUS, the "Secret Weapon" of Underwater Surveillance by Edward C. Whitman. Undersea Warfare
Richard Muller, UC Berkeley lecture on waves, SOFAR and the Roswell UFO Incident

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This page was last edited on 7 July 2017, at 06:16.

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