SUMMARY
Physical oceanographic and acoustic data were simultaneously collected from the coastalwaters of the Arabian Sea. Acoustic transmissions were carried out from an anchored vesselusing 620 Hz transducer and received by an array of hydrophones moored at ~5 km away fromthe anchorage. Thermal structure in this region was characterised by a tri-layer structure, ie, astrong thermocline (> 0.4 oC/m) sandwiched between an upper (< 10 m) and bottom (> 25 m)homogeneous layer. High-resolution (sampled at 10 s interval) temperature data from mooredsensors revealed intense internal wave activity. The maximum value of Brunt-Vaisala frequency,which is the maximum frequency limit of internal waves in the thermocline, suggests that theupper frequency limit of the internal wave, which can be generated during this period, is 23 cph(2.6 min). High and low frequency waves caused variations of ~3 oC and ~5 oC respectively inthe temperature field. But the low frequency internal waves were found to contain maximumenergy compared to the high frequency waves. Fluctuations of 8-12 dB were noticed in themeasured acoustic intensity values in the presence of low frequency internal waves. Simulationstudies carried out using parabolic equation model using 620 Hz source indicated well-definedducted propagation with minimum transmission loss, when the source was kept within thehomogeneous layer. The presence of tri-layer thermal structure, ie, a strong gradient layersandwiched between an upper and bottom homogeneous layer, caused surface and bottom channelpropagation in this region.