Vertical noise distribution studies at the Marine Physical Laboratory

Abstract

A review of the experimental studies by the Marine Physical Laboratory in vertical directionality of ambient noise. Two regimes of deep ocean ambient noise—wind-generated surface noise and distant shipping noise are discussed. In both of these cases the nonstationarity of noise as observed through the directional beams of a hydrophone array is of interest. Wind-generated noise statistics in the form of envelope spectra have been derived from data with a high-gain 720-element array operating over the band of 800 to 3200 Hz. Lower frequency data has been obtained with a linear array suspended from the stable research platform FLIP.