FORMATION AND PROPAGATION OF WEAKLY DIVERGING BUNDLES OF RAYS IN A HORIZONTALLY INHOMOGENEOUS OCEAN

Conditions of formation of weakly diverging bundles of rays (WDB) are analyzed for various sound velocity profiles. Analytical estimates, nu merical modeling, and an analysis of experimental data indicate that w eakly diverging beams retain their structure at large distances even i n the presence of strong inhomogeneities in the form of fronts, eddies , lenses, and moreso in cases when adiabatic sound propagation theory holds. The existence of WDB ensures the presence of anomalous sound in tensity behavior at certain depths, which exceeds the depth-averaged i ntensity value by 12 - 15 dB.