Acoustic Sounding of Vortex Rings in a Continuously Stratified Fluid

The experimental simulation of solitary vortex rings in a stratified fluid performed using high-frequency echo-sounding and optical visualization methods shows that on the range from turbulent to laminar regimes the vortex is a volume inhomogeneity with a sound scattering cross-section m_vU⁵, where U is the translational velocity. The absolute value of m_v is determined by the microscale component of the vortex microstructure, which is commensurable with the sounding sonic wave length.