Properties of the ambient noise field recorded at the 150 m isobath during the 2016–2017 Canadian 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 Canadian 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 talk presents initial findings of the statistical ambient noise levels during the year-long experiment, presents beam-noise levels recorded by PECOS, and qualitatively discusses the natural, biologic, and anthropogenic sounds present in the acoustic recordings. [Work sponsored by ONR.]