As nouns the difference between sonar and sofar is that sonar is while sofar is a system for determining the position of vessels lost at sea by means of explosive sounds.

Animals: Humpback Whales: Humpback whales migrate over thousands of kilometers. Although it is not really known to what extent whales use the SOFAR channel, scientists hypothesize that whales such as the humpback may use the SOFAR channel for long-distance communication.

approximately 1,000 metres

Sofar Sounds (an acronym for Songs from a Room) is a music events startup company, that creates small performances in unique locations in over 400 cities around the world. They are headquartered at The Roundhouse site, London, UK and were founded in 2009.

SOFAR is an ocean “channel” that allows sound to carry great distances. At the height of World War II, scientists tested a theory that low-frequency sound could travel long distances in the deep ocean. They deployed a hydrophone from their research vessel, which was anchored off of Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

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Reginald Fessenden

This technology also relies on sound waves to detect objects. However, sonar is typically used underwater. Only they don’t use sound waves. Instead, these two technologies use radio waves or light waves, respectively.

Warship sounds include the same sounds as merchantmen, plus sonar pinging by carrier escorts. The pinging sound you hear in the movies is the sound sonars made 80 years ago. Modern sonars sound more like screeching metal.

Sonar is also used in acoustic homing torpedoes, in acoustic mines, and in mine detection. Nonmilitary uses of sonar include fish finding, depth sounding, mapping of the sea bottom, Doppler navigation, and acoustic locating for divers.