Ambient Noise Measurements and Inversions in Coastal and Continental Shelf Waters

Abstract : The long-term goals are to quantify and model the production of ambient noise by breaking waves in the open ocean and the surf zone. The origin of the f-5/3 dependence of wave-induced noise power on frequency, and the relationship between noise level and surface wave energy dissipation are of particular interest. The short-term objective was to acquire simultaneous measurements of the numbers and sizes of bubbles formed immediately beneath breaking waves and the ambient noise generated by waves in an open ocean experiment. This field study was the third in a series of deployments to study ambient noise generation and air entrainment processes by whitecaps.