A statistical analysis of the intensity of acoustic signals received from three sources (9.8, 110, and 262 Hz) towed at long ranges (100–3000 km) in the ocean is presented. The experimental probability density functions for the linear intensity are tested against the following density functions using the Kolmogorov–Smironov test at the 5% significance level: exponential, Gamma, log‐normal, and log‐normal with a standard deviation of 5.57 dB. It is found that no single function adequately represents the experimental density functions at all three frequencies, and none of the functions is appropriate at 262 Hz. At 9.8 Hz, three distributions (Gamma, log‐normal, and log‐normal with a 5.57 dB sigma) give excellent results. At 110 Hz, only the log‐normal (with 5.57 dB sigma) theory yields good results. The ability of all the functions to describe the experimental results decreases with increasing frequency.