Speeds of sound in salt water at high salinities

The speeds of sound in salt water mixtures were measured over a range of salinities from 3% to 24%, which runs from 1x to 7x relative to the nominal value in ocean water. The measurements were made using an ultrasonic pulse-echo technique using the speed of sound in distilled water as a reference with timing offsets determined via cross-correlation. The results exhibited a trend consistent with published values with a speed increase of over 230 m/s (16%) relative to pure water at maximum salinity. A quadratic fit to the data was used in a ray optics model to explore the diffraction of ultrasound in fluid layers with varying sound speeds.