The continuous seismic‐profiling system now in use at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution employs an electrical‐spark sound source with a maximum stored energy of 100 000 J, a receiving system consisting of a streamlined, neutrally buoyant line‐hydrophone array and associated amplifiers having a bandpass of 20 to 10 000 cps, and a high‐quality tape recorder. When these received seismic signals are processed by a matched‐filter detector and displayed on a precision graphic recorder (PGR), an accurate quantitative measure of travel time through the subbottoms and a clear, qualitative picture of these layers results. It is now possible to obtain a quantitative measure of the reflectivity and absorption characteristics of the subbottom and bottom layers in the frequency ranges of 20–1000 cps. The received signals are first converted from analog to digital format and then processed through a series of digital‐computer programs: statistical techniques that improve signal‐to‐noise ratio, Fourier analysis, filtering, matched‐filter detection, and programs relating measured spectrum to original source spectrum. The detailed frequency and phase measurements of the information thus obtained allow new interpretations to be made of the substructures and give new acoustical signatures to the substrata. Results of data taken southeast of New England on the Continental Rise show that the energy spectrum of the first bottom reflection can be used to determine the original source depth to within 1‐ft accuracy. The original source spectrum including surface reflections can be determined to an accuracy of 3%. Knowing the source spectrum, the reflectivity and absorption coefficients for the bottom and of each subbottom have been computed as a function of frequency for the above area.