High-frequency (40-kHz) bottom backscattering data obtained by the Benthic Acoustic Measurement System from two different shallow water locations were analyzed. One of the sites has a hard sandy bottom, and the other a soft silty bottom. Since the data were recorded on two slightly separated arrays, the differential phase technique was used to locate the scatterers. It is found that scattering at the sandy site originated from the seafloor interface, while the scattering at the silty bottom was caused by a scattering layer about 1 m beneath the seafloor (believed to be methane gas voids). The backscattering strengths at the silty bottom were about 3 dB higher than those at the sandy bottom. A simple sub-bottom scattering model for the silty bottom is assumed and compared with the data. When the sound refraction and attenuation are taken into account, the model-data fit yields reasonable results.
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Tang et al. (1994) studied this question.