A challenging task in physical studies of the upper ocean using underwater sound is the interpretation of high-resolution acoustic images. This paper covers a number of basic concepts necessary for undergraduate and postgraduate students to identify the most distinctive features of the images, providing a link with the acoustic signatures of physical processes occurring simultaneously beneath the surface of the sea. Sonars are so sensitive that they detected a new acoustic signature at the breaking of surface gravity waves in deep water, which resembles oblique motion-like vortices. (Contains 4 figures.)