Average Intensity of Low-Frequency Sound and Its Fluctuations in a Shallow Sea with a Range-Dependent Random Impedance of the Liquid Bottom

In this study, the problem of the influence of a horizontally inhomogeneous liquid bottom impedance, given by random Gaussian function of the speed of sound and by density, on the propagation of low-frequency sound in a shallow-water waveguide is considered. The model parameters are referenced to the conditions of sound propagation in the regions of the seas of the Russian Arctic shelf. By the example of statistical modeling of the sound field intensity, we show that sound speed fluctuations in the bottom lead to similar effects that were previously established for volumetric fluctuations of the speed of sound in the water layer. With the distance from the source, the decrease in the average intensity slows down in comparison with a deterministic medium in which there are no fluctuations. This deceleration of the decay of the intensity in a random waveguide can be significant already at short distances. Changes in the law of decay of intensity at a fixed frequency are mainly determined by the correlation radius of inhomogeneities and the average penetrability of the bottom, which leads to attenuation of sound propagating in the waveguide.