Due to the difficulty of direct measurement, there is a need to develop inverse techniques for remote sensing bottom geoacoustic parameters in the lowan mode measurements are extended to extract acoustic attenuation and speed in a horizontally stratified bottom in shallow water as a function of frequency and depth. The computational and experimental results show that, for a limited frequency band, we can find an equivalent depth profile of sea‐bottom acoustic attenuation with a linear frequency dependence that simulates the effect of nonlinear frequency dependence (without depth structure) on some field characteristics, such as the attenuation rate of individual mode, the frequency response of long‐range sound propagation, and the amplitude ratio of mode 2 to mode 1. However, the resultant equivalent negative gradient for the sea‐bottom attenuation is too strong to be accepted in light of available data. The conclusion is that nonlinear frequency dependence of the acoustic attenuation in the upper sedimentary layer is required to explain many aspects of shallow‐water sound propagation.