Surface-to-volume wave conversion in shallow water with a corrugated bottom

Acoustic transmission between points onshore or in very shallow water and points in deep water is strongly influenced by the shear rigidity of marine sediments, which control the parameters and the very existence of seismoacoustic surface waves. Previously, it was found that coupling between acoustic modes and the seismoacoustic surface waves is normally weak, although not negligible in the case of a gently sloping seafloor and soft sediments. In this paper, the previous work is extended by accounting for the small-scale roughness of the seafloor. The significant role of roughness in coupling between volume and surface waves is demonstrated. The combined effect of bottom topography, roughness, and wave attenuation in soft marine sediments on the sound propagation between points in shallow and deep water is discussed. Published in Russian in Akusticheskiĭ Zhurnal, 2008, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 400–407. The article was translated by the author.