Rh. Bourke et Ar. Parsons, AMBIENT NOISE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NORTHWESTERN BARENTS SEA, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 94(5), 1993, pp. 2799-2808
In support of the 1988-1989 CEAREX drift experiment three ANMET ambien
t noise buoys were inserted on ice floes in a triangular pattern appro
ximately 120 km on a side about 200 km north of Svalbard in mid-Septem
ber 1988. The buoys drifted southward passing to the east of Svalbard
providing hourly measurements of the noise field from 5-4000 Hz for 2-
4 months. Extensive environmental data were available with which to ex
amine the effect of wind stress and ice motion on the noise field. The
median spectra from these three buoys were quite similar with differe
nces of about 3 dB being observed, the larger differences being at the
higher frequencies where local noise effects dominate. The spectra we
re comparable to those found in the Eurasian Basin in winter. A 12-h p
eriodicity was noted in both the noise and ice speed data, the result
of forcing by tidal or inertial oscillations. A 52-h periodicity was n
oted at one buoy which lasted through the winter and was subjected to
recurring synoptic scale storms. For frequencies below 100 Hz the temp
oral coherency was about 15 h. At low frequencies wind stress was the
most important noise correlate, followed closely by ice speed. The noi
se field responded rapidly to the passage of storms generated by the I
celandic Low which migrated over the northern Barents Sea with the arr
ival of-the noise peak being associated with the time of passage of th
e storm front past each buoy.