Arctic/North Pacific Ocean Environmental Studies

• Main Author: Mikhalevsky, Peter
• Other Authors: SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORPMCLEAN VA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1997
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Acoustics; *ACOUSTIC CHANNELS; *ICE CAPS; MONITORING; SOUND TRANSMISSION; HYPOTHESES; NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN; TRAVEL TIME; OCEAN BASINS; ARCTIC OCEAN; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Pacific; Arctic Basin; Ice; Ice cap; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA331113; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA331113

The project began in 1993 as a effort to design and construct an Arctic capable low frequency acoustic source at 20 Hertz with acoustic power of 195-200 dB. The objective of the effort was to test the feasibility of acoustic monitoring of the Arctic Ocean and ice cap using long range low frequency acoustic propagation, by answering the fundamental questions: (1) What source level would be required to reliably propagate at 20 Hertz across the Arctic Basin?, (2) Will the Arctic acoustic channel be stable enough to permit precise phase and/or travel time measurements?, and (3) Will modes/rays be stable, identifiable and predictable? The design study of Arctic capable acoustic sources was completed in December 1993 and a decision was made to go forward with the manufacture of an acoustic source by the Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. The results of the design study by the Institute of Applied Physics are included in this report. It was also decided to support a experiment in the Arctic in April 1994 to be known as the Transarctic Acoustic Propagation (TAP) Experiment. The objectives of the experiment would be to test the acoustic source and the hypotheses of acoustic monitoring of the Arctic Ocean.