Broadband Acoustic Quantification of Glacial Ablation on High Latitude Thermohaline Structure
Abstract
The proposed project aims to characterize ocean structure in the coastal Arctic using broadband high frequency acoustic systems. Current and future need for consistent Very High Frequency (VHF) underwater acoustic communications (UWCOMMS), particular in high latitude regions, motivates this work. The broad bandwidth achievable at VHF can be exploited to realize both high data rates and low SNR performance, while the short acoustic wavelengths enable the construction of compact arrays. However, the performance of VHF UWCOMMS systems depend on understanding the thermohaline structure of the water column and any performance-limiting channel effects. In the coastal Arctic environment underwater acoustic propagation is poorly characterized because thermohaline structure is complicated by the mixing between glacially derived freshwater and tidally driven seawater flows, as well as the formation of transient waveguides near the sea surface from freshwater lenses. Furthermore, the recent dramatic shifts in climate have further altered background thermohaline structure and those glacially-driven processes, ablation, that input freshwater into these environments. The proposed work aims to: 1) develop a long-term (>1 year) broadband acoustic mooring to characterize temporal variability of thermohaline structure in Hansbukta on daily to seasonal time scales, 2) quantify the multi-scale processes occurring at the ice-ocean interface of Hansglacier that drive variability in thermohaline structure, and 3) continue to assist in the characterization of the high-frequency (>100 kHz) soundscape of high-latitude systems and quantify high impact processes driven by warming temperatures.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 10, 2025
- Source ID
- N000142512182
Entities
People
- Elizabeth Reed-weidner
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Connecticut