Abstract: The study of wave guide invariant in underwater acoustics is one of attracted topics in recent 30 years.The interferences of direct wave and reflect wave from sea surface and sea bottom of underwater target radiated noise inherent the information of target distance.Extraction of these distance information will provide a possible new way in passive ranging for underwater target.The theoretical analysis and the results of at sea experiments show that the LOFAR (Low Frequency Analysis Record) figure inherently contains the range and moving information of passive acoustic sources,even in the situation that the receiver is only one single hydrophone.The theoretical analysis of extraction of target distance information by using wave guide invariant is presented in this paper.It is shown that,based on the interference striation pattern of target,the hydrophone array system is possible to extract the distance information with quite high array gain.Although the mathematical constrain conditions in forming interference striation pattern are different for individual array element,but it is proved that the differences of time delays between array elements can be used in compensation of beamforming.The theoretical analysis,system simulation and some results of at sea experiment show a new way in passive ranging and target recognition.