Properties of the ambient noise field at the 150-m isobath during the Canada Basin Acoustic Propagation Experiment

Abstract

The Applied Research Laboratories at the University of Texas at Austin (ARL:UT) deployed two passive acoustic recording systems along the 150-m isobath of the Chukchi Shelf during the 2016-2017 Canada Basin Acoustic Propagation Experiment (CANAPE). The first system was a single-hydrophone recorder located on the seafloor, while the Persistent Acoustic Observation System (PECOS) contained a horizontal line array of hydrophones along the seabed and a vertical line array spanning a portion of the water column. The systems were deployed and recovered during open-water conditions, but remained in place during the ice-formation, ice-covered, and ice-melt time periods. This work presents initial findings of the statisti-cal ambient noise levels during the yearlong experiment and presents two examples of the dynamic noise environment present during the recordings.The Applied Research Laboratories at the University of Texas at Austin (ARL:UT) deployed two passive acoustic recording systems along the 150-m isobath of the Chukchi Shelf during the 2016-2017 Canada Basin Acoustic Propagation Experiment (CANAPE). The first system was a single-hydrophone recorder located on the seafloor, while the Persistent Acoustic Observation System (PECOS) contained a horizontal line array of hydrophones along the seabed and a vertical line array spanning a portion of the water column. The systems were deployed and recovered during open-water conditions, but remained in place during the ice-formation, ice-covered, and ice-melt time periods. This work presents initial findings of the statisti-cal ambient noise levels during the yearlong experiment and presents two examples of the dynamic noise environment present during the recordings.