Sea Water Sound Attenuation

Reference data and engineering information about sea water sound attenuation for acoustics applications.

seawatersoundattenuation

Overview

Engineering reference data for Sea Water Sound Attenuation in acoustics.

$c = \sqrt{\gamma R T}$

Speed of sound in an ideal gas.

$L = 10 \log_{10}(I/I_0)$

Decibel level.

$\lambda = c / f$

Wavelength = speed / frequency.

4 rows

Approximate attenuation of sound in seawater as a function of temperature and frequency. Values represent the sound energy loss in decibels per kilometer of propagation distance.
0.5 kHz(dB/km)	1 kHz(dB/km)	2 kHz(dB/km)	5 kHz(dB/km)	10 kHz(dB/km)	20 kHz(dB/km)
0.03	0.07	0.14	0.41	1.3	4.6
0.02	0.07	0.14	0.33	0.92	3.2
0.02	0.06	0.13	0.3	0.7	2.2
0.01	0.05	0.13	0.29	0.58	1.6

Source: engineeringtoolbox.com