Echo Sounding for Remote Estimation of Seabed Temperatures on the Arctic Shelf

Abstract

The East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) is a key area of CH4 venting in the Arctic Ocean. The ESAS region stores more than 80% of the world’s predicted subsea permafrost and associated permafrost-related gas hydrates. Gas emissions from subsea permafrost are controlled by its current thermal state, which, in turn, depends on environmental factors. The aim of the manuscript is to show that the thermal state of subsea permafrost and phase transitions of its pore moisture can be estimated remotely by echo soundings, which can resolve the structure of shallow bottom sediments. It has been found that the duration of the seabed acoustic response (echo duration, Δ) at frequencies of 50 and 200 kHz correlates with sediment temperatures and generally increases with cooling below 0.5 °C. This correlation, explained by assuming a layered structure of the bottom sediments, establishes the basis for high-frequency acoustic thermometry. The technique is an advantageous tool for many applications: fast contouring of low-temperature zones, remote measurements of seabed surface temperature, and estimation of the thickness of frozen sediments near the bottom. The latter estimates have implications for the distribution of subsea permafrost and the stability of gas hydrates on the Arctic shelf.