Underwater Acoustic Modeling and Simulation, Fourth Edition

The 2013 fourth edition of Paul C. Etter's text entitled Underwater Acoustic Modeling and Simulation deals predominantly with physical and/or empirical modeling methods and approaches for predicting a variety of underwater acoustic phenomena including acoustic propagation, noise and reverberation occurring in the ocean environment. Practical information on the application of these models to sonar operation and performance and also the implementation of models over time (termed “simulation” by the author and introduced to the title and the text back in the third edition) are discussed in later chapters. New topics specifically added in the fourth edition include the impact on underwater acoustic modeling tools of a variety of more recent undersea subjects including marine mammal protection, the impact of increasing ocean acidification, undersea noise pollution, effects of climate change, marine wind farm development, etc. Etter's evolution from the first edition of this book (entitled Underwater Acoustic Modeling and published in 1991) to the present fourth edition has occurred over a period of nearly four decades. Overall, looking back on the changes made to the book during that period with each new edition, it has been a fine progression. Real-world changes to the technical interest areas and priorities relating to underwater acoustics modeling (e.g., the shift in emphasis to acoustic prediction in shallowrather than deep-water environments) have successfully been incorporated into later editions over the years. Relatively weighty improvements and updates to the material have been made with each edition and the fourth edition is no exception. As with the prior editions, Etter's fourth edition text is ideally suited for use by professional and student acousticians, acoustical oceanographers, applied mathematicians, sonar technologists and operations analysts and system engineers. The author assumes that the reader already has a basic technical foundation in underwater acoustics and the text therefore concentrates primarily on covering the wide-ranging variety of modeling approaches applicable to this area. While the text is fairly detailed and extensive, this reviewer believes that it is intended primarily as an introductory or illustrative examination of a broad field of underwater acoustic modeling methods. As such, it is likely aimed more at graduate students and professionals interested in learning about the full spectrum