Interpreted acoustic ocean observations from Argo floats.

Abstract

While it is technically possible to record high bandwidth ambient noise, practically the ocean ambient sound data need to be subsampled and interpreted for users. A new configuration of Argo float has been augmented with passive aquatic listener (PAL) technology to monitor the ocean ambient sound during the drift phase of the Argo float mission, typically at 1000 m depth for 10 days at a time. These ocean ambient sound data are interpreted as wind speed, rainfall rate, and marine animal detections. These data are reported to users via two-way iridium satellite communication link when the float surfaces at the end of each dive cycle. Changes in sampling strategies can be implemented if desired. The first set of these floats has been deployed and additional deployments are ongoing. The data will be used to study the fresh water cycle of the ocean as part of the NASA Aquarius/SAC-D satellite mission scheduled to be launched this year.