Product of wave propagation velocity v and density of the medium in which the accoustic (or elastic seismic) waves propagate. See: Seismic impedance and impedance contrast
Peter Bormann, Keiiti Aki, William H. K. Lee, and Johannes Schweitzer (Compilers and Amenders), Glossary of Terms Interest to Earthquake and Engineering Seismologists (Version 1), Publication records from external use of GFZ scientific infrastructure, Germany 2011. http://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/escido c:56137:3/component/escidoc:56143/Glossary_rev1.pd f, (ND/ Erthq - Amer) {980}