Use of Acoustics in Localizing Under-Ice Oil Spills.

• Main Authors: Francois,R E, Wen,T
• Other Authors: WASHINGTON UNIV SEATTLE APPLIED PHYSICS LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1983
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Acoustic Detection and Detectors; *Oil spills; *Acoustic detection; Sea ice; Underice; Surface properties; Underwater sound signals; Acoustic scattering; Backscattering; Underwater sound equipment; Sonar arrays; Electroacoustic transducers; Arctic; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA133709; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA133709

Because of the development of oil resources in the Arctic, it has become necessary to devise methods of dealing with accidental spills of oil beneath and near sea ice. One of the first steps involved in cleaning up an under-ice oil spill is determining its exact location. If a means of rapidly locating an under-ice oil spill can be developed, appropriate recovery techniques that capitalize on that information can then be considered. This report describes a study undertaken to determine the feasibility of using underwater acoustics to specifically locate an under-ice oil spill whose general position is known. The first step was to measure the surface backscattering strength of sea ice at 100-300 kHz at low grazing angles. The results were then used to calculate the distance at which oil spills should be detectable. The design of an operational survey system should be relatively straightforward, once the parameters of the system are defined. (Author)