High Arctic Acoustic Thermometry and Soundscape: HiAATS
Abstract
Scripps Institution of Oceanography (PI: Matthew Dzieciuch) proposes to conduct the High Arctic Acoustic Thermometry and SoundScape(HiAATS) experiment, a joint U.S.-Norwegian acoustic propagation experiment in the Amundsen and Nansen basins. Our Norwegian partner is the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) in Bergen, led by Hanne Sagen. The HiAATS experiment would take advantage of HiAOOS, the High Arctic Ocean Observation System program, a Horizon Europe funded EU project, that would provide access to the Arctic on a Norwegian Coast Guard icebreaker, the K/V Svalbard. NERSC will also provide substantial oceanographic instrumentation.This proposed experiment is designed to investigate the heat content and circulation of the Amundsen and Nansen Basins of the eastern Arctic Ocean. The acoustic propagation of low-frequency sound is very sensitive to small changes in water column temperature andstratification. By deploying three transceiver moorings and one receive-only mooring and measuring the travel-time of sound betweenthe moorings, one can infer the heat content and transport between the moorings. The moorings will be deployed to capture the acoustic signal of the incoming Atlantic Water which has been driving the environmental change observed in the Arctic. The acoustic observations include transmission loss, which depends in part on the ratio of first-year ice to older ice; and acoustic scattering, whichdiagnoses the strength of internal-wave activity. Finally, observations of the acoustic soundscape are also an important part of this program. Passive acoustic records in the Arctic are rare and incomplete. A large fraction of the recording budget will go towardsfurthering our understating of the environmental sound due to glacial and sea-ice activity, marine mammals, and other human activity, to name but a few of the many sources of sound in the ocean.Our goal is to explore the fundamental limits of acoustic signal processing and to exploit the remote sensing capabilities of acoustics to characterize the large-scale properties of the Arctic Ocean. The measurements of physical ocean and ice processes, and of the acoustic signal propagation and ambient noise obtained by this experiment will improve our ability to monitor, to communicate, and to navigate in the Arctic Ocean. Approved for Public Release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 15, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312488
Entities
People
- Matthew A. Dzieciuch
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, San Diego