The Timing of Sound in the Ocean

The fundamental aspects of timing sound in the ocean are discussed from the point of view that the sound velocity for an elemental volume of the ocean is determined by its physical and chemical constitution. This velocity, nearly independent of frequency, can be measured automatically by modern techniques and be used to understand the phenomena exhibited by long-range sound transmission. The basic connections between the two are presented for a set of propagation experiments in which the sound projected and received has not interacted with the ocean’s floor or surface. This embodies details in technique requisite to achieving eventually a precision of 10-5 in both local sound velocity and long-range sound pulse timing