| Abstract: | Because the sound speeds of seawater and seafloor sediment both increase with temperature, the influence of tempera-ture on the bottom reflection characteristics of seafloor sediments needs to be investigated. Based on the calculation of the temperature- controlled experimental measurement data of typical seafloor surface sediment samples, the temperature-dependent acoustic charac-teristics, including acoustic impedance, acoustic impedance ratio between surface sediment and seawater, and reflection coefficient, were analyzed. The effective density fluid model was used to analyze and explain the reflection coefficient variation of surface sedi-ments with temperature and predict the dispersion characteristics. Results show that the acoustic impedance of the seabed sediment increases with temperature, whereas the acoustic impedance ratio and acoustic reflection coefficient slightly decrease. The acoustic impedance, acoustic impedance ratio, and acoustic reflection coefficient of sandy, silty, and clayey sediments vary similarly with tem-perature variation. Moreover, the influence of temperature on these acoustic characteristics is independent of detection frequencies. |
