Properties of the ambient noise field at the 150-m isobath during the Canada Basin Acoustic Propagation Experiment

Abstract

The Applied Research Laboratories at the University of Texas at Austin (ARL:UT) deployed two passive acoustic recording systems along the 150-m isobath of the Chukchi Shelf during the 2016-2017 Canada Basin Acoustic Propagation Experiment (CANAPE). The first system was a single-hydrophone recorder located on the seafloor, while the Persistent Acoustic Observation System (PECOS) contained a horizontal line array of hydrophones along the seabed and a vertical line array spanning a portion of the water column. The systems were deployed and recovered during open-water conditions, but remained in place during the ice-formation, ice-covered, and ice-melt time periods. This work presents initial findings of the statisti-cal ambient noise levels during the yearlong experiment and presents two examples of the dynamic noise environment present during the recordings.