Sound absorption based on ocean measurements: Part I: Pure water and magnesium sulfate contributions

Between 10 and 1000 kHz the absorption of sound in sea water can be considered as the sum of contributions from pure water and magnesium sulfate. Near 10 kHz there is also a small contribution from boric acid. In this paper, the contribution from MgSo4 is treated extensively using the authors’ measurements of absorption in the ocean to construct a quantitative equation for absorption as a function of temperature, salinity, and depth. The frequency region below 10 kHz, where the boric acid contribution predominates, will be reviewed later in Part II which includes an equation for the total absorption in the frequency range 400 Hz to 1 MHz.