Spectral, spatial, and temporal characteristics of underwater ambient noise in the Beaufort Sea in 1994 and 2016

Climate induced changes in the Arctic Ocean have severely impacted underwater acoustic communication and navigation; understanding underwater noise characteristics is critical to improving the performance of these operations. Ambient noise from the Beaufort Sea recorded in experiments more than 20 years apart (SIMI94 and ICEX16) are compared to determine differences that may be attributed to the region's rapidly changing environment. Spectral comparison shows noise within 20–350 Hz is ∼30 dB louder in 1994 than 2016; however, this is likely due to higher array self noise during SIMI94. Beamforming results show ambient noise vertical directionality is focused near the horizontal during SIMI94 but more spread in elevation during ICEX16, with a robust noise notch at the horizontal. Numerical modeling demonstrates that this difference may be attributed to ambient noise during ICEX16 being dominated by surface noise sources at discrete ranges rather than the historical assumption of a continuous and uniform distribution of sources. Temporal statistics of transient ice events show more acoustic activity during SIMI94 than ICEX16 and appear to support the new proposed surface source distribution for ICEX16.