Measured acoustic intensity fluctuations on the Chukchi continental shelf during Canada Basin Acoustic Propagation Experiment 2017

Abstract

One of the main objectives of the Shallow Water (SW) CANAPE experiment was to gain a thorough understanding of a yearlong propagation of broadband signals from deep to shallow water with simultaneous oceanographic and acoustic measurements together along the and across the shelf break region. Using more than eleven acoustic arrays and seven oceanographic moorings in a 30 km2 region on the Chukchi shelf this task is being done by assessing both deep water sound signatures and shallow water source transmissions. In this paper with present analysis of acoustic signals from both shallow and deep water sources on the Chukchi continental shelf for a specific time period between June and August 2017 where a 20 dB intensity drop from along-the-shelf source (S2) at 150 m water depth was observed for more than few weeks. This intensity drop is strongly correlated with occurrence of a large oceanographic event spanning the top 150 m water column due to Pacific Water outflow from Bering sea and retreat of Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ). During the same period, cross-the-shelf source (S1) was not transmitting signal but the reception from the deep water acoustic transmitters also show variability that could be correlated with the basin scale water column variability and the ice coverage. [Work supported by ONR.]