Ambient acoustic enviroment—Diurnal soundscapes

Abstract

Soundscape ecology has emerged as an important technique for monitoring complex coastal environments. Spatial and temporal acoustic variability exists between different regions and habitats. The sound characteristics have been hypothesized to be related to the associated community’s diversity and health. The prominent sounds may originate from physical, biological, and anthropogenic sources. Biological sounds especially those at coral reefs locations may have seasonal, monthly and diurnal variations. Snapping shrimp noise can dominate the ambient noise background in these sub-tropical coastal regions. While seasonal variations of snapping shrimp sounds have been studied extensively, the diurnal variations across habitats are less understood. Ambient noise data from two sites on Oahu, Hawaii are investigated with respect to diurnal variations using both spectral and time series analysis. Motivations and inspirations from Dr. Lisa Zurk’s extensive work on passive acoustics are highlighted. In addition, Dr. Zurk made notable theoretical and numerical contributions to acoustic scattering research. Some recent studies on the scattering from gas bubbles in complex media are also outlined in tribute.