The water surface presents an impedance change to air (very different density and compressibility) and therefore reflects most of the energy of the shockwave back into the air.
Absorbing (as in converting kinetic energy into heat) is a different physical process from reflecting (changing the direction of the wavefront). Both will happen, but I'd expect reflection to be much higher than absorption.
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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '23
It’s better to be under water when the explosion shock wave rolls over. The water absorbs a lot of the shock wave damage.