Over the past 5 years, four acoustic field programs have been conducted by the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State Univ. These tests have been conducted from both stationary and moving platforms under the Arctic pack ice. The measurements include multiple signal waveforms to study the reverberation generated by both smooth and rough ice. The forward scattering versus ice type has been measured as a function of the depth of the source and the receiver. The basis of these measurements is to quantify the acoustic medium in the Arctic to ascertain what information about the environment can be extracted using state‐of‐the‐art acoustic sensors within certain physical limitations. The effects of multipath and out‐of‐plane scattering will be discussed along with its effects upon direct path propagation. Ambient noise effects on acoustic processing will be discussed.