Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography (Applications of Modern Acoustics) [Hardcover]

Herman Medwin (Author), Clarence S. Clay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 1997 | ISBN-10: 012487570X | ISBN-13: 978-0124875708 | Edition: 1st

The developments in the field of ocean acoustics over recent years make this book an important reference for specialists in acoustics, oceanography, marine biology, and related fields. Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography also encourages a new generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to apply the modern methods of acoustical physics to probe the unknown sea. The book is an authoritative, modern text with examples and exercises. It contains techniques to solve the direct problems, solutions of inverse problems, and an extensive bibliography from the earliest use of sound in the sea to present references.
Written by internationally recognized scientists, the book provides background to measure ocean parameters and processes, find life and objects in the sea, communicate underwater, and survey the boundaries of the sea. Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography explains principles of underwater sound propagation, and describes how both actively probing sonars and passively listening hydrophones can reveal what the eye cannot see over vast ranges of the turbid ocean. This book demonstrates how to use acoustical remote sensing, variations in sound transmission, in situ<$> acoustical measurements, and computer and laboratory models to identify the physical and biological parameters and processes in the sea.


* Offers an integrated, modern approach to passive and active underwater acoustics
* Contains many examples of laboratory scale models of ocean-acoustic environments, as well as descriptions of experiments at sea
* Covers remote sensing of marine life and the seafloor
* Includes signal processing of ocean sounds, physical and biological noises at sea, and inversions
* resents sound sources, receivers, and calibration
* Explains high intensities; explosive waves, parametric sources, cavitation, shock waves, and streaming
* Covers microbubbles from breaking waves, rainfall, dispersion, and attenuation
* Describes sound propagation along ray paths and caustics
* Presents sound transmissions and normal mode methods in ocean waveguides

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography is an excellent starting point for oceanographers seeking acquaintance with this field as well as a valuable reference for practicing scientists."
David Farmer, SOIL SIMULANT

"This book will be an invaluable reference for acoustical oceeanographers. It will also be used extensively by fisheries and biological oceanographers as they try to understand and develop new ways to use acoustics to study the physical and biological processes that lead to ever-varying distributions and abundances of organisms ranging from phytoplankton to marine mammals. I strongly recommend it to acousticians, geophysicists and physical and biological oceanographers."
--D.V. Holliday Limnology and Oceanography

"Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography is written in a style appropiate for a broad audience at many levels. Much of the text is written in a simple tutorial manner so that nonspecialists and people who are just entering the field can understand it. Furthermore, there is enough detail and references made to the literature so that the specialist can also make use of the material. The book spans areas of marine geology, marine biology, physical oceanography, and marine engineering and would be useful in applications involving ecology, commerce, and the military." "Medwin and Clay integrate diverse concepts and focus on solving realistic problems. Oceanography is described along with acoustics. Acoustical formulations are derived in terms of observable ocean parameters and there are many comparisons of theory with laboratory and ocean data." "The book follows "Acoustical Oceanography," published in 1977 by the same authors but with author order reversed. The first book was widely used and cited.. It had eleven printings, was translated into Russian and was cited routinely by scientists in varied disciplines and in many different journals. Since 1977, there have been significant advances in the area of acoustical oceanography. This new book incorporates many of the advances along with a new format."
--T.K. Stanton, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

"Part of the excitement pervading this field (acoustical oceanography) stems from the rapidity with which the scope of possible applications is increasing: Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography is an excellent starting point for oceanographers seeking acquaintance with this field as well as a valuable reference for practicing scientists. The opportunities (in acoustical oceanography) will be limited only by the oceanographer's imagination and the need for a firm understanding of the underlying principles. It is this last requirement to which the authors have contributed, and oceanographers will be grateful for their effort."
--D. Farmer, EOS, Trans., Am. Geophys. Union

From the Back Cover

The present book represents an outstanding text and reference for a very broad audience of senior undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and practitioners, who are involved in the field of underwater sound--its physical background, today's engineering applications, and its modern important related areas of oceanography, remote sensing, biological characteristics, underwater communications.

The internationally renowned authors, Medwin and Clay, have produced a work that reflects the tremendous development in the field over the past two decades, and importantly, addresses it in the broadest possible way, emphasizing its current highly interdisciplinary nature.

The reader is given various techniques to solve not merely the "direct problem," for example, to predict the propagation of sound from an essential knowledge of the physical and biological data along the ocean propagation path; but also to find solutions to "inverse problems," whereby the vagaries of underwater sound propagation are used to measure the physical characteristics of the ocean and its boundaries-and sense its fish and zooplankton inhabitants.

The book's modern, authoritative nature, its breadth of coverage, and its extensive bibliography-from the earliest use of sound in the sea to present references-make it a unique source for today's acousticians, ocean engineers, physical oceanographers, marine biologists, and for every other individual who wishes to use acoustics to learn more about their fields.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 712 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 1st edition (October 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 012487570X
• ISBN-13: 978-0124875708
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,337,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three leading acoustical oceanographers applaud Fundamentals, July 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography (Applications of Modern Acoustics) (Hardcover)

D.V. Holliday of Marconi-Tracor Aerospace, San Diego, CA in June 1999 issue of Limnology and Oceanography: "This book will be an invaluable reference for acoustical oceeanographers. It will also be used extensively by fisheries and biological oceanographers as they try to understand and develop new ways to use acoustics to study the physical and biological processes that lead to ever-varying distributions and abundances of organisms ranging from phytoplankton to marine mammals." "I strongly recommend it to acousticians, geophysicists and physical and biological oceanographers".

T.K. Stanton, Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, in the April 1999 issue of the J Acoust.Soc.Am.: "Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography is written in a style appropiate for a broad audience at many levels. Much of the text is written in a simple tutorial manner so that nonspecialists and people who are just entering the field can understand it. Furthermore, there is enough detail and references made to the literature so that the specialist can also make use of the material. The book spans areas of marine geology, marine biology, physical oceanography, and marine engineering and would be useful in applications involving ecology, commerce, and the military". "Medwin and Clay integrate diverse concepts and focus on solving realistic problems. Oceanography is described along with acoustics. Acoustical formulations are derived in terms of observable ocean parameters and there are many comparisons of theory with laboratory and ocean data." "The book follows "Acoustical Oceanography", published in 1977 by the same authors but with author order reversed. The first book was widely used and cited.. It had eleven printings, was translated into Russian and was cited routinely by scientists in varied disciplines and in many different journals. Since 1977, there have been significant advances in the area of acoustical oceanography. This new book incorporates many of the advances along with a new format".

D. Farmer, IOS, Canada in Aug 25 issue of EOS, Trans., Am. Geophys. Union: "Part of the excitement pervading this field (acoustical oceanography) stems from the rapidity with which the scope of possible applications is increasing:. Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography is an excellent starting point for oceanographers seeking acquaintance with this field as well as a valuable reference for practicing scientists. The opportunities (in acoustical oceanography) will be limited only by the oceanographer's imagination and the need for a firm understanding of the underlying principles. It is this last requirement to which the authors have contributed, and oceanographers will be grateful for their effort"

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good introduction to underwater acoustics, November 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography (Applications of Modern Acoustics) (Hardcover)

The book gives a very good introduction to underwater acoustics (sound propagation, ray paths, scattering from objects and surfaces, sea floor mapping and some signal processing). It is also full of references, so you know where to look if you need further information about a subject. The only negative thing about this book, is that the drawings might have been better.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Clarification, February 21, 2001

By 

James Harper (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography (Applications of Modern Acoustics) (Hardcover)

Just wanted to clarify a point made in Jim Hawkins' review of this book. John Wiley & Sons was not involved in the publication of the second edition of this venerable work. Any fault with the quality of the typesetting should be brought to the attention of Academic Press and the authors, not Wiley.